When it comes to full-service property management Seattle investors can count on, we come out on top for the seasoned real estate investors we serve. However, property management services aren't the only crucial element you need to successfully grow (and then maintain) your real estate portfolio.
Knowing—and then applying—the right real estate strategies will help whichever property management firm you do employ to optimize your rental properties and maximize your income potential from said rental homes.
Some of these insights are obvious, and you'll pick up on them right away. Others come from years of experience developed in the course of working with and acquiring rental homes.
Today, we want to highlight some of the best real estate investment strategies that will help propel your portfolio to new heights in the Seattle-area rental market.
More Is More
Most people build wealth through real estate by buying a house every few years; they may even opt for a duplex up front if they're feeling brave. However, buying one property at a time is a linear approach to an exponential problem.
Even if you only grow one property at a time, your workload is growing at a rate that will outstrip the number of investment properties you have. To achieve better returns and streamline your efforts, aim for multi-family units instead of single-family homes.
Starting small with a duplex, triplex, or quadplex allows you to reduce your risks while boosting your income potential. You can even homestead these types of properties, reducing some of your expenses as a first-time rental property owner.
As your knowledge and experience grow, so does your portfolio. You’re not jumping into a 100-unit deal in the first deal, but you’re scaling up in a way that's smart, fast, and secure.
Scale Smart
If you want to own enough units to fund your dream lifestyle, you’ll need more than a few small houses.
In the beginning, you might wear the hat of a full-service property management company by handling rent collection, responding to maintenance requests, and managing the ins and outs of rental property law. However, once you’re ready to scale your real estate investment portfolio, you’ll realize that this is taking too much of your time.
After you've already secured an excellent broker and attorney, you’re now ready to add another member to your real estate investment team: a Seattle property manager. There are plenty of property management services providers out there, but you should always keep your eye on quality.
You'll depend on these experts to take over a large chunk of the activities that are taking up most of your time, so they need to be the best at what they do.
Curate Your Circle
Expand your circle of 'friends' to include successful real estate investors who are crushing it. Hang around with investors who have achieved the level of success that you aspire to.
The easiest way to find real estate investors in the Seattle area is to look for real estate conferences and events in your area and attend them, or to join some real estate investment groups that have a decent reputation for being useful.
As the best property management Seattle offers, we always recommend you vet any potential investing group, contractor, property manager, or other professional before you make any major decisions.
- You can prepare for your first networking event by reading real estate books to learn the tactics and strategies of successful real estate investors.
- Expand your library to include books about business as well: owning and operating rental real estate is a business.
You can also try to find and hire a mentor that is doing things that you want to do and learn from them. It costs money to find a mentor in real estate, but this upfront investment pays for itself over time in the form of premium knowledge.
Of course, you can also tap into this kind of expert insight when you partner with the best property management Seattle offers—and you'll have the help you need to run your rental properties successfully to boot!
Seattle property managers are a tax write-off, so it pays to find one of these experts to work with! They'll even help you run the research on your next potential rental property to ensure you're getting a great deal.
When the Going Gets Tough...
...The tough get property management! Owning real estate is not always fun, especially when dealing with rental units. That’s why most people give up, stay small and forego that drive to grow their investment portfolio; their current investments are giving them enough headaches as it is!
However, if you follow these strategies and hire a Seattle property manager who offers full-service property management, you can tap into all that the Seattle-area rental market has to offer! If you're ready to learn more, download your free copy of our resource, Real Estate Investing: Grow Your Portfolio.