TAKE CONTROL

I was reminded of a valuable lesson this morning: when you hand something over to someone else and step back completely, it will never be handled exactly the way you want it. DUH!

I own a few rental properties in Chicago. About four years ago, my business partner and I turned them over to a management company to avoid the constant stress, like those dreaded 2 a.m. calls about basement floods, power outages, or rodents. It was a great move, because at the time, it was the only way to save my sanity.

For the most part, its worked. But today I drove down to check on the properties and was stunned. There were weeds in the back growing 8–10 feet high. They looked like trees. The place was completely unkept. To make matters worse, one of our tenants lets their dog use the yard as a toilet without ever picking it up.

So I grabbed my snips, trash bags, and shovel and cleaned it up myself. But the real question is: where was my property management company in all this? Why didn’t they flag the mess?

And it doesn’t stop there. This property has been listed for sale for five months. You’d think the realtor might have suggested cleaning up the backyard to help sell it? Of course not. Again, that’s on us as we should have inspected it ourselves.

The point is simple, don’t ever assume you can be completely hands-off. If you delegate, stay engaged. If you hand over responsibility, check in often. At the end of the day, no one will care about your investments as much as you do. And that goes for investing in yourself.

It’s time for me to take control, get these properties in shape, and then put them back on the market. Lesson learned.