If you dream of owning investment property and managing it yourself, it's helpful to have a realistic understanding of the kinds of things you will need to deal with as a landlord. There will ALWAYS be unforeseen issues that come up, so it is important that you be prepared to deal with this psychologically and financially.

Pro activity is your best weapon against unforeseen-issues and feeling overwhelmed, so get yourself an investment property "coach", study my free resources, and don't let  yourself be stopped by any of the hidden-hoops  you may need to jump through on your way to financial-freedom.

Although I own and manage some Minnesota investment properties myself, I tend to prefer properties that are managed by a property management company - as this tends to be a lot less work for me. Nevertheless, new investors will often times want to manage their own properties (at least in the beginning) to get a feel for what it's like.

Having tenants rent your place out (and pay your mortgage for you) is a beautiful thing. All you have to do is collect the checks, pay the mortgage, and build your equity. But I don't want to be misleading here, some people find GETTING to this point stressful and scary - I know I did at first.

One of the most important steps you need to take is simply getting your place rented out. The properties that I manage have always been consistently rented out with no more than a 2 month lapse in between (usually there is no lapse at all) but it's this space between renters that can be challenging for you. It's wise to be aware that (from time to time) you might need to pay that mortgage yourself for a few months. 

However, if you follow the simple guidelines that I have laid out in my Free Minnesota Investors' Rental Guide (my book that I share with everyone I'm working with) - you will usually be able to keep ALL of your properties rented out without ANY breaks between tenants - and keep your cash-flow moving!

Being a property manager (in addition to an owner) might require some people to develop personality characteristics that might not come naturally for them. In this article, I intend to cover a few basic concepts that will help to prepare you for this process.

For example, if you are someone with a short-fuse or that's low on patience, you might be better off having a management company rent your property(ies) out for you. The reason I say this is because the process of renting your property out requires patience! I liken it to fishing in a way, only in this scenario you are fishing for a new tenant...

The process starts by effectively advertising your property (as I cover in the Minnesota Investors' Rental Guide) and this in itself costs money. So every week that your property sits, you might be thinking, "how much more is this gonna cost me?" and this can be stressful if you let it get to you.

But if you follow my Minnesota investment property team's proven-strategy, you WILL find the right tenants (and sooner than later)!

The property manager is also responsible for showing the place to all of the potential tenants, and if you follow my guidelines, you'll have plenty of people that want to see the property. You might need to show the place as many as a dozen times (or more) before you find the right tenants - and this process can be a bit testing for certain personality types - so beware!

The reason I say this is because there will be those, who schedule an appointment with you to see your property, that never show up - or if they do show up, they're an hour or more late (keeping you waiting). This is justpart of the process, so you might as well accept it and move on. Enduring this process (like a good fisherman waits for the next bite) is what it takes to be a successful property-manager and get your place rented out.

I recently rented out a property that took longer than expected to rehab and was now finally complete on November 1st. Now, I almost always rent my properties out in the spring, summer, or early fall, because trying to rent them out in the middle of winter is a bit more difficult to do. Most folks don't want to move when it's only 25 degrees out and there's snow on the ground - but never the less, there are people who still need a place to rent.   

It took me almost 2 months to finally get the house rented out for Jan. 1st. This was about 8 showings and 10 different people (not including the 2 no-shows). I always try to consolidate the showings by scheduling to meet with more than one person (or family) at a time - which explains the 8 showings for 10 people. Needless to say, I was relieved to finally get the placerented out.

 I usually don't have to worry about this because all of my leases are designed to end only in the favorable-months, and this helps to ensure a smoother transition between tenants. And as I hinted at above, I can typically get a place rented just as soon as the current tenant moves out - and there's no reason that YOU can't do this too!