As it has been stated many times, real estate is about location. Have you ever really considered how the distance between you and your rental property can impact your ability to manage the property? In this article, I am going to give you 4 insights into the proximity to your rental property.
Farming – Farming is a concept real estate agents use to work an area to find listings. This concept is just as relevant in property management. When you farm an area, you look for rentals in a zip code, neighborhood or community. If you can successfully farm an area and get a cluster of rentals all in the same farming area, it makes it easier for you to manage.
Maintenance – When you get a call that something is wrong at one of your units. It is a lot easier to assess the situation if you are close by. You’re proximity to the property can impact your response time and your ability to find the right vendor to resolve your issue.
Drive-by’s – there are a lot of owners who like to drive by their property. Even with Google maps that can show you an image of your property, you still might want to drive by because that image is not real time. If your house is burning down, you will not see that on Google maps. Having a close proximity to your property will enable you to perform those drive-by’s.
Understanding your area – Every area has its personality, and your proximity to that area will better help you understand how to manage properties in that area. The goal here is to farm in an area near you so that you understand the ins and outs of the area you are farming.
Hopefully, these insights will help you when you are analyzing your deals. It may not be the case that you will be able to build a portfolio that can give you the financial freedom that you are looking for in one farm area. You may need multiple farm areas. Personally, I have a 10 mile radius where I try to build multiple farms. This ensures that I will never be more than 30 minutes from any of my properties.
