Review of Managing Rental Properties for Maximum Profit, Revised 3rd Edition: Save Time and Money with Greg Perry's Foolproof System for: *Buying the right properties ... tenants *Getting paid on time *Fixing and (Hardcover)

This book is good for those who have very limited experience in managing rental properties. It's main focus seemed to be on managing time and for those of you who don't know the secret I will let you in on it. Excellent Tenants = Minimal Time. It's finding and keeping the excellent tenants that require some time. This book goes into detail about how to do just that. If you are a struggling landlord or a complete newbie than this book is for you.

However, if you have some experience in this area, or are an effective manager outside of rental properties you will probably be an effective rental manager. Other things to consider is that Mr. Perry seems to specialize in very low cost rentals so much of his ideas are drawn towards those crowds. For Example

Getting Tenants the book says advertising the local newspaper is the best, it does work but for higher cost rentals I average about 70% of new tenants from the internet.

Dishwashers and Garbage Dispoals - you might be able to get away without them in cheap units, but try renting a unit at 1500 a month without them - it just wouldn't work.

Wainscot - Again nice idea for those low income units, but most people look at wainscot as that cheap stuff you had on your vacation home when you grew up.

Electric Water Heaters - Keep gas if you have it already, electric heaters are always more problems and will cost more in the long run - gas is always easier and better. BTW, if you go to a plumbing wholesale warehouse (usually open only to licensed plumbers) the gas units are cheaper than electric.

When buying a home Mr. Perry seems to think that plumbing problems are easily fixed. Caveat Emptor - A person who bought a house that I passed on due to plumbing problems just spent $22,000 in getting it re-plumbed. From my experience I walk away from any house that 1) has foundation problems 2) has flooded recently 3) has major plumbing problems. I am highly suspicious of any house that has 1) Roof Problems 2) Electrical problems.

Things not mentioned that might help you out.

Automatic Rent Payments - I have about 50% of my tenants on automatic rent payments. It's easy to set up (talk to your bank) and you get your money every month on the same day.

If you have more than 5 units I strongly urge you to look into incorporating. It limits you liability and there are positive tax reasons to do so. This book barley mentions corporations and in a slightly negative way too.

If you buy in the right area and market your unit accordingly it is very easy to get some long term leases written up. I have approximately 70% of my tenants on 3 year or longer lease agreements.

While mentioned I have had a great deal of success with Townhomes and Condos - just be aware that this is very AREA sensitive. The plus side to these is that you can be a truly hands off landlord. Write your rental agreements that the tenants agree to take care of all repairs inside including AC/Heat. The associations take care of everything outside and all you do is collect the rent. True your returns are not as high, but it is the simplest form of rental management that I know of. Also, if the townhome/condo is slightly upper scale you will find that your vacancy rates drop considerably. The shortest tenant I have ever had in a townhome/condo was 1 year with my average being around 6 years.

Anyhow, This book is good for the beginners, that is why I gave it 4 stars.




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