Alan Cowgill

While many of you are trying to be a one-man or one-woman show

– the owner, manager, rehabber, rent collector, bookkeeper,

plumber, electrician, and everything else for your business –

a much easier and more profitable way is to build a team.

You don’t need to know everything there is to know about

everything. If you are not an attorney, find a good real

estate attorney. If you really don’t like or understand

accounting, find a good accountant who specializes in real

estate.

It is truly worth the time and effort it takes to

have a team of experts to handle the variety of tasks

associated with running your business.

How is this more profitable? Well for the hours you spend

trying to learn what they already know, you could be out

making real estate deals and making money in your area of

expertise. I can call my accountant, pay a reasonable fee,

and quickly get the right answer. It is absolutely worth it.

What other people might you want on your team? Well how about

if I go back to the beginning of my business and see what team

members I added as the company evolved.

- Gurus

In the beginning I purchased a course from a real estate guru

and started learning about the business. This information was

the foundation of my business and I have spent hundreds of

hours learning from many of the great real estate gurus. I

learned early on that the key to this business was getting a

solid education.

- Other real estate investors

Once I decided this was something I wanted to try but was still

hesitant to just jump out there on my own, I joined the local

real estate investment association. Here I found a tremendous

amount of information and support from people in my city. And

a bunch of great friends.

- Contractors/handymen/sub-contractors

As I started getting properties it seemed like each had their

unique problems. Some had trees, shrubs, and junk that

needed to be removed while others had nice yards but bad roofs

and so forth. With each new house I added the names of

different types of workers. I’d evaluate the work and price of

each and choose to keep their numbers handy and add them to my

team or keep looking for someone better.

After awhile I was able to walk through a property and see

what needed to be repaired or replaced and I would immediately

have someone in mind who could do the work.

A couple of early lessons I learned that I want to share with

you can help you avoid some pain in this area.

First lesson, what was the skill level should I hire?

At first, ‘to save me money’, I hired the lowest level of

handyman. These are the workers that when you ask them what

type of rehab work they can do; plumbing, electrical, drywall,

carpentry, etc), they will answer “I can do it all”. These

are the guys are not licensed. You can spot them with their

old pickup truck with a DBA company name, if any name at all.

Now I guess I’m a slow learner . Took me a couple of years of

having material stolen, money stolen, jobs started and never

finished, poor workmanship, chasing contractors to get the

job finished, being overcharged, etc, etc, etc..

Now what you should do when you meet these folks, is run.

Do not hire them…

I finally learned to not hire these folks.

There are roughly 3 levels of contractors. 1st level I just

described, the 2nd level are skilled workers, they have some

folks working for them and were licensed. The 3rd level is

the contractors with the big ads in the yellow pages, big

crews and big trucks. The boss never gets dirty.

I learned that I should work with the 2nd level of contractors.

More competent and skilled than the 1st group. Cost more too

but the work gets done. Less expensive than group #3 that

has to pay for their big yellow pages ad.

2nd lesson…

In the early years, I’d hire one person to do demolition work,

another person to do drywall, someone to do carpentry work of

putting in cabinets and hang doors, another person to paint

the house. I was writing out a check to buy the carpet and

then hire someone else to lay carpet. No more…

Today, I use the Robyn Thompson, the Queen of Rehab,

philosophy of writing 7 checks per rehab. Checks are written

to electrician, plumber, roofer, landscaper, carpet company,

furnace company, and sub contractor.

I need to explain what the sub contractor does. He has a crew

of about 10 folks. He gets the trash out of the house along

with old sinks, drywall, carpentry work, interior and exterior

paint.

Hire higher skilled folks, pay more but the job is done right.

- Advertising

I have lots of people help me with advertising.

When I sponsored a Little League team, the youngsters became

my advertising team members when they wore their shirts with

my name and phone number on them.

I have a specific person at the newspaper that I ask for

because I’ve worked with them before and they know how I want

my ads to appear.

I have a sign company that I’ve used for years because when I

call them, they know what I liked about the last order.

- Private Lenders

Now, at this stage of my business I have lenders on my team

who have helped me launch my business to an amazing level.

- Attorney, Accountant, Insurance

Of course, I have a great accountant and insurance person.

I have a number of attorneys. I focus on their specialty.

One for evictions, one for closings and a bank of

attorneys on retainer for other stuff.

- Office staff

Over the years my company has grown from a file box in my

two-bedroom apartment to an office with people to answer the

phones, update my web site, schedule my appointments, and

take care of many of the parts of the business that I am now

too busy to do.

1st position I hired was someone to pay the bills and handle

the filing. They came into my home on Saturday mornings and

spent 3-4 hours working. Then I got my 1st 600 sq. ft.

office and they would work 30 hours per week. Then, in time,

went to 40 hour a week job.

2nd position I hired was someone to get tenant/buyers into my

empties. They would stage the property with applications,

take the phone calls and work with the folks to get them into

the property to look at it. I use lock boxes with keys inside

so we don’t physically show the unit. The tenant/buyers let

themselves in the unit. Once we ran credit and they qualified,

I would have them go to the office and the office clerk would

work with them to sign the paperwork, change over utilities

and give them the keys.

- Staying in Control

To manage your business, you need to do a couple of key

things early on. 1st you need to set up systems.

As an example, I setup a the day of the week I want all bills

paid. What day of the month we invoice tenants. If the

tenants don’t pay, what are the steps to evict and timing.

These are the start of my systems. Start documenting every

step to take chaos out of your business. Then hand these

systems off to other folks to run for you and build your team.

The 2nd part of staying in control is getting key reports

from your office folks.

I have a number of reports that I get on the 1st day of the

month. One is an updated property listing showing what we

own. We buy and sell houses every month and as things change

I want to make sure I have clean data.

Another is a rent increase schedule so I can make sure I raise

rent if it’s time.

I also get a report on monthly cash flow.

All these key reports will help you stay in tune with what is

happening in your business and your team.

In Summary…

I consider all these people as part of my dream team. I take

care to keep these relationships strong. A strong team helps

me keep a strong and growing business. Start building your

team!

Important Tip

No man is an island.

Alan Cowgill is a speaker, author, and real estate entrepreneur. Alan has bought or sold over 200 investment properties. His step-by-step system “Private Lending Made Easy” teaches others to find private lenders. Contact Alan at 937-390-0816 or 866-831-3540. For a FREE audio go to www.PrivateLendingMadeEasy.com