DIY Landlording Skills

What types of landlording skills are needed for a regular do-it-yourself (diy) landlord to be successful? Well, just like typical small business owners, diy landlords sometimes have to wear many hats and be "Jacks of All Trades". So, if the prospect of learning and performing different tasks sounds challenging, then the landlord business might be right up your alley.

The following is a general overview of the three primary skills that you'll need as a diy landlord. But don't worry if you don't have some of them because you can develop your skills over time - it's just like learning how to ride a bike!

The Three Primary Landlording Skills

1. People Skills - When you come right down to it, practically all commercial businesses are really "people businesses". The main mission of those businesses is to "win people over" and convert them into satisfied paying customers. This requires effective people skills on behalf of business owners and their employees. As a landlord, you'll also need to have people skills to effectively deal with your own type of customers, your tenants.

2. Business Skills - As a diy landlord, owning and managing rental property isn't quite like running General Motors, but it does require some similar business skills on a much smaller playing field. These business skills are�

Business Administration / Property Management Skills

Finance and Investment Property Analysis Skills, and

Sales and Marketing Skills

3. Trade Skills - True diy landlords do as much of the maintenance, repair and upgrade work on their properties themselves before hiring contractors to do it. This allows them to save substantial amounts of money while building "sweat equity". Many small fortunes have been built this way. The basic trade skills needed to accomplish this are�

Carpentry skills,

Plumbing repair and soldering skills,

Electrical repair and replacement,

Painting and wallpapering,

Gutter and roof repair, and

Landscaping

The good news is that the above skills can be learned and improved upon. And, if you feel like you're really a "fish-out-of-water" with learning any of these skills, then you'll always have the option of hiring outside help to do the related work. But, with a little motivation, effort and knowledge, you'll be surprised at what you can achieve!

For more in-depth information about diy landlording skills and how to develop them, please visit The Landlord's Library book collection. It's a terrific, one-stop source for practical, comprehensive information on the entire subject of residential landlording.

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