PETER LOHMANN

I have some exciting news to share: I quit my job! Two weeks ago, I put in notice at my employer (an engineering firm). It was hard to walk away from a very secure and comfortable position in the field of engineering, but my passion for real estate has been growing steadily for the past few years and I felt it was time to pursue that feeling.

So what am I going to do now? Well, I’m glad you asked. I am opening a real estate brokerage here in Columbus with two amazing partners: Adam Rich and Joe Peffer. Our office is opening downtown in about a week. In addition to traditional real estate buying/selling services, we will be offering top-tier property management, as well as a new product type that I can’t talk about right now.

My real estate investing partnership with Adam, RL Partners, isn’t going anywhere. We continue to grow, and are helping more and more people invest in real estate to build long-term wealth. RL Partners will remain a separate company from the new brokerage to keep a clear division between our investing and property management services.

This is a big step, and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to and planning for a long, long time. I’m really proud of what we have accomplished with RL Partners, and am looking forward to building something great at the new brokerage. Stay tuned!

Wherever you find real estate listings online, you should also see which agent wrote or represents that listing. Why show something for sale without saying who to talk to if you want to buy it? That’s why we show who the listing agent is — because it makes sense.

via Time to tell Google who owns the listing | Inman News.

Yeah, I don’t know about that. It seems to be that buyers should be getting in contact with their buyer’s agent, not contacting a listing agent, when they find a property online.

Instead, from this moment on, you are no longer the owner. You are simply the property manager.  ”I can’t move my 200lb dog into this studio apartment!?”  ”no, I’m sorry – the owner doesn’t allow dogs here.” Additionally, you can tell the tenant “I need to talk to the owner about this” to buy yourself time to think about odd requests.  Instead of the tenant being upset with you – they are now upset with the mysterious “owner.”  Feel free to play this up all you want:

Don’t do this. Own up to the decisions you make, and explain the reasoning behind them. Or – gasp – make an exception if you think it’s warranted.

NAR has put out a Call for Action — write to your representatives and tell them not to mess with the MID.

No.

Rob:

I think the biggest wakeup call came during the Gen-Y panel, when two of the panelists straight up said that real estate agents were useless and on their way to irrelevance, like travel agents. A third panelist was furious at the agent she used for all-around frustrating and unprofessional behavior.

Sounds accurate to me.

Check out this fun tip recommended on a major investor website:

One of the best tips I ever got was from a seasoned landlord that had a huge portfolio of single family homes. He told me that one of his favorite strategies was to make the tenant wait a couple days for a phone call to say whether their application was approved. If he had decided to approve their rental application, there was one last test they had to pass. He would show up unannounced at their home for a surprise visit. At this visit he would have some piece of paperwork he had “forgotten” to give them. Getting a look at how they were living in their current home, would be the deciding factor as to whether or not he would ultimately rent to them.

That’s a pretty vile practice.

Go read this article. Very useful information, and applicable to leasing property as well (renters have a similar mindset to buyers).

The Rules of the Game

Following a basic plan will get you to the end because the plan works and never changes. The pattern is always the same. Yes, our world changes continually and we need to be careful to adapt based on it. However, the principles do not change.

• Living within your means
• Buying assets that produce income (cash flow positive properties),
• Staying out of (or paying off) debt
• Simply saving money for unforeseen circumstances,
• Reinvesting profits back into your investments.

Regarding “push” email and similar technological distractions, Shawn Blanc hits the nail directly on the head:

My personal theory on this is that the mental stress of “always being reachable” or “always anticipating the incoming” hinders your mind from being able to settle into a focused state of concentration.

A lot of people want to know what rights tenants have, how they can use them, and when it is appropriate to do so. This is specifically important when safety is involved, and it is important for tenants to know just how safe they are in their apartment.FireWaterMold up in Seattle came up with a quick reference guide to check out to make sure your apartment living will keep you happy and healthy. Take a look.

Great infographic. Would like to see one for each state.