Tarek and I love spending time with our kids and watching them grow up into unique and intelligent little people, but having two kids is a lot more time-consuming than having just one. Over the past few months, I’ve been really glad to have a career in real estate investing instead of any number of other careers. With house flipping, I feel like I have a lot more flexibility than I would in almost any other field, and that gives me more time to spend with my kids
I hear a lot of new and potential investors talking about how they want to get into investing, but they just don’t have the time. At first, when I hear this, I think about how much more free time I have now that my job is a full-time investment. Then I think about how much time people spend working regular jobs forty hours a week or more, running errands, and trying to fit everything else in-between working, commuting, and trying to get a little bit of rest.
Just thinking about all that is exhausting! Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can start investing in real estate right now that won’t take up a lot of your time, and will help you escape your full-time job so that you can enjoy more free time in the future.
DO SOME DOUBLE SCREEN TIME
When you get home from work, sometimes all you want to do is veg out on the couch and watch TV. Whether you’re just watching for a few minutes before you start making dinner or you’re on a Netflix marathon, grab your tablet or laptop while you watch. During your TV time, you can start researching real estate markets in your area, peruse listings, or pick up new tips on investing strategies.
TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME
If you’ve gathered some leads online, you can steal some time to go check them out by dropping by on your way to or from work. Plan to leave a little bit early in the morning or to spend rush hour driving through neighborhoods instead of stuck on the highway, and you could find some really great house flip deals.
NO TIME TO FLIP? DO SOME WHOLESALING
In my experience, house flipping pays more than wholesaling, but if you’re short on time, you might be nervous about doing everything you need to find contractors, get rehabs done, and put a flip house on the market. So, instead of dealing with all that, you can just do the front-end work – find leads, buy contracts, and sell those contracts to other house flippers.
BUILD A TEAM THAT WILL WORK FOR YOU
Another good way to get into real estate investing when you really don’t have any time is to start building your investing team. Reach out to real estate agents, contractors, and other professionals. Tell them a bit about yourself, what you do, and your plan to start flipping houses. Then, as you find deals, you’ll have people on your team who can take care of all of the details of your first house flip while you’re taking care of your family, going to work, or even relaxing in front of the TV for a Netflix marathon.
The key to getting into real estate when you don’t have the time is to find time in between other things. Then, as your real estate investing business picks up, you can drop the things that take up the most time in your life, like going to the office every day!
