The chances are good that you started your real estate business with just one property. You found a bargain in Pennsylvania, rehabbed it, and sold it for a profit.
So far, so good!
However, rehabbing just one property at a time is not enough to help you prepare for retirement. To do that, you need to find a way to scale your business so you can grow it.
You don’t want to scale too quickly. If you do, you might end up stretched financially and overwhelmed in terms of what you have the capacity to do. Here, we’ll talk about how to move from one stage to the next so you can grow your business smoothly.
Here are how the stages break down:
- Stage 1: One Property at a Time
- Stage 2: Two to Three Properties at a Time
- Stage 3: Five to Ten Properties at a Time
- Stage 4: Ten or More Properties at a Time
If you’re still at the first stage, it might be overwhelming to think of handling ten or more properties at once. But, that’s where scaling comes in. Here’s how to do it.
Working Capital
It shouldn’t surprise you much to learn that the first step in scaling your business is having sufficient capital to do it. To scale, you’re going to need to hire people – and you’re going to need some tools to help you streamline the rehabbing process.
Your first concern needs to be overhead, which will cover things like:
- Rent
- Utilities, including Wi-Fi, office space, supplies, and so on
- Salaries for your employees
- Benefits for your employees
- Other related expenses, including mileage
If you’ve been operating as a one-man show, then you might have a bit of sticker shock thinking about these things. However, your goal—and what you should always keep in mind—is to work on your business, not in it.
Of course, you also need money to buy properties. You might have some set aside, but you’ll need to have a list of lenders and potential clients who have the money you need to buy properties. That’s the other part of the financial aspect of scaling.
People
The next step is finding the people to help you scale your business. You might be accustomed to doing everything yourself, but you have to ask yourself if it’s really feasible to continue to do so.
A lot of rehabbers start out doing everything, and if you’re handling just one property at a time, that might make sense. It allows you to maximize your profits.
However, you need to think about the big picture too. If you work crazy hours and never have any time to yourself, eventually, you’ll burn out. Your social life will suffer and your important relationships will die on the vine.
When you’re hiring, think about two things: the skills you need, and the values and personality you want on your team. After all, it won’t do you any good to hire an organizational whiz kid who’s so abrasive that everyone else on your team hates him.
Look for skills first, but then—all things being equal—consider administering personality tests to determine which person is going to be the best fit for your company. The time you spend on this issue up front will save you over and over again on the back end.
Once you have your team in place, make sure you’re using each person’s skills effectively. Don’t delegate tasks willy-nilly. Instead, consider who the best person for the job is and assign work accordingly.
Plans and Organizing
The final step is to make plans for your organization and then put systems in place to help you achieve your goals. What do you want to achieve and when do you want to achieve it?
You should start with goals because they help provide you with the framework for what you want to achieve. If you want to gradually grow your business to the point where you can flip 10 properties a month, you need to figure out the logistics that will help you get there.
Once you do that, then it’s time to put systems in place to help you do it. That means streamlining processes, documenting everything, and creating schedules and timelines to keep you and your team on track.
That might sound like a lot, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to grow from a one-person shop to a thriving real estate business.
Conclusion
You can absolutely scale your rehabbing business—if you take the time to do it right. If you make the mistake of overextending yourself, then you may crash and burn.
If, on the other hand, you do things the smart way and build the capital, people, and plans you need to succeed, then you’ll be able to grow your business and earn the big profits you dreamed of when you first started in real estate.