Compound your returns – not your mistakes

Compounding returns is what makes income properties an effective wealth-generating option for investors. Unfortunately, the effects of mistakes made when buying and holding can compound, dragging-down performance.
 
Many understand how a Property Manager helps an investor avoid problems while holding but few understand how getting it right when buying requires the right advice. This is where working with a Property Manager can help.
 
“Your tenants are people, there’s huge value in forging a trusting and open relationship with them,” says Trevor Valade, Broker of Record for LandLord Realty Inc., Brokerage, “if you can’t or don’t want to, Property Managers are incredibly effective at making that connection.”
 
A Property Manager is very motivated to help an investor make the right purchase because they have to handle the day to day troubles that result from a wrong purchase and residential property investing is an extremely people-driven field.
 
After all, it is the business of providing personal homes.
 
There are also different types of real estate available for an investor – some are more attractive than others, says Brandon Sage of LandLord Property & Rental Management, Inc. “We know why, because we handle both sides of the investment on a daily basis: the management and the purchase/sale.”
 
Ultimately, there’s value in having a team of people who are familiar with your investments from a grass-roots level managing their performance.
 
“LandLord Realty's team of Realtors have been and still are experienced Property Managers and many of our Property Managers are licensed to sell real estate,” says Sage. “Good ongoing Property Management keeps your real estate investments secure and protects their re-sale value; effectively increasing the value of your portfolio year over year.
 
“Investors tend to fixate on the monthly costs of Property Management without understanding where  the gain is,” continues Sage. “It's the classic case of an ounce of prevention being worth more than a pound of cure. Indeed, a successful Property Manager should be judged as much by the problems they avoid as the tasks they perform.”
 
Buyers working with Property Managers will develop a better understanding of how a property is managed day-to-day by receiving input before buying about what the risks are with a given property.
 
“I started with LandLord as a Property Manager back in 2008 and almost immediately started assisting existing clients in their acquisition of properties,” Sage told CREW. “Rental value assessments, determining potential capital costs, explaining zoning by-laws, analyzing tenant demographics and charting resale market trends are just a few areas I help with. In time it became apparent that starting our own real estate brokerage was a no-brainer.”
 
By 2011, LandLord Property & Rental Management, Inc. had three Senior Property Managers: Gotham Chandidas, Trevor Valade and Brandon Sage, licensed to represent clients through the Property Manager's in-house brokerage, LandLord Realty, Inc.
 
“What's more is that when you work with your Property Manager to buy, the transfer of ownership is a relatively seamless transition compared to using entirely different organizations,” says Sage. “It is just easier and benefits everyone.”