I ask you a question: what is the value of your time? Not a very easy answer, I admit. If we think about the value of time professionally, some will answer me that they see an hourly rate (for example $30/h). On the other hand, if we think about the value of time for the family, some will answer me that this is priceless… So what time of day will allow me to do real estate? Should I cut my hours at work or should I miss my son’s next hockey game?
Very often, people ask me how to find time to research real estate. The famous daily metro-work-sleep compresses the 168 hours that we find in a week. The time needed for real estate prospecting can still melt like snow in the sun… Indeed, if you are lucky enough to have children, they will ask for your attention either to play, to do homework and especially to attend the famous activities extracurriculars. The answer to this question is very simple, you have to plan, automate and delegate!!
To plan
To succeed in real estate, you must plan to invest a minimum of 5 hours per week. The best strategy is to plan the slots allocated to real estate research in your diary. For example, when I was employed, I reserved at least 2 dinner slots per week in order to carry out my research. I had dinner at my desk and this allowed me to unearth rare gems.
Other successful investors I know have managed to free up a day in the week to devote themselves to real estate by talking to their employer. For example, Friday was selected to carry out real estate prospecting in the morning, the building visit in the afternoon and the remaining time to manage current projects.
When I was “employed” and even now, I really enjoy the early morning beach between 5:15 and 7:00 in the morning. Sure, you have to give yourself the kick you need to get up, but when you do, we often have the most productive time since we’re not constantly bothered or interrupted.
Automate
Real estate research takes time. But we can reduce this search time by creating automatic search systems.
First, your real estate broker can program automatic alerts for buildings matching your criteria in a given region. You will then receive a link by email which will redirect you to the description sheet of the building in question.
We can also use free listing sites and create alerts when an income property is listed there. You simply have to create an account and program our alerts in a desired sector and that’s it!
The more alerts you have in place, the easier your real estate prospecting will be. You can then keep your job knowing that a well-built system is working for you.
To delegate
The real estate broker remains a key player in our business and can take a lot of time to help us in our prospecting. These have often helped me acquire some very interesting buildings! They are then paid only by the seller when the transaction is completed.
Real estate networks are also an important bargain niche when an investor does not want to do a “Deal” that he has already negotiated. And where do we find the investors? Simply by attending monthly real estate evenings like Immofacile.ca. There are some in Quebec and Montreal.
Conclusion
If we want effective real estate prospecting with results, we must not devote ourselves to a single research method. It’s like fishing. When you go ice fishing, you have the choice of putting only one line in the water and little chance of catching the catch of the century or if you want to increase your chances, you could then decide to put ten lines at the water.
The same logic applies to real estate research, the more research methods you put in place, the better your chances of finding that rare real estate gem will be. Happy prospecting!!
If you want to know how to find deals efficiently without wasting time, join our next Deal Finding training live with Ghislain Larochelle.