We all love lists, right? And today I’ve got an awesome one for you—five great tools that I know can help you in your real estate investing.
Tool No. 1: Think Realty
Starting with the obvious: The first one is Think Realty Magazine. You’ve got to subscribe to the Think Realty platform because it is real value. It’s fire—absolute, freaking fire! So for a subscription of $30 a month, you’re getting free tickets to every Think Realty expo around the country. Every event. That just speaks value right there.
Then you’ll get Think Realty Magazine delivered six times a year. That’s where you can read up on all the news that has gone on in the real estate world. Even though I’m not much of a reader—because I’m a very slow reader—I actually love browsing through it. It definitely has some good statistics in there and allows you keep your finger on the pulse of real estate investing.
And that’s not all you get when you join Think Realty. Members also can get all their email newsletters, which are great, plus all the blogs from the real estate experts, which is cool. And what is being installed on the online platform as it is getting developed is going to be fantastic for the future, in my opinion. So I highly recommend you jump on board with a Think Realty subscription.
Tool No. 2: BiggerPockets
Another great tool—tool No. 2 that I recommend—is BiggerPockets.com. I suggest getting started with the free account, and you can upgrade to the pro account later, if that suits you.
Keep in mind a lot of people who post on BiggerPockets.com may have a hidden agenda there—they’re pitching their own products and there are a lot of keyboard cowboys, right? So don’t get caught up just in all the jewels and other “shiny objects” there, because there are plenty of veteran investors there too, and they deliver some amazing content.
The great thing about BiggerPockets is that you can ask any questions you want and there will be a lot of real estate investors who have been around the block in the last 10, 15 or 20 years who will always happen to chime in and assist with any real estate advice. There’s also a weekly BiggerPockets podcast that’s great.
And while you’re there, be sure to check out my podcast, podcast 89. To this day, two years later, I still get compliments on it. And there also is a lot of other great content written by real estate investors—including me.
Tool No. 3: HipChat
The third tool I highly recommend is an app we use in-house at my company, Ohio Cashflow. The app is called HipChat, and it’s a free, live-messaging app that you can sign up for online.
Everyone at our office uses HipChat. I use it when I need to correspond with anyone in the office, or with Paul who is my project manager on the road or Peter my sales guy, or my videographer Aaron in California or my website and social media crew in Belgium—even my mom who lives in Croatia.
This is so much better than Facebook Messenger, right, because you can stay productive, you want to stay sharp, you want to stay on the ball, you just want to discuss business-related issues—rather than getting sucked into every social angle of all your friends’ lives.
HipChat is very powerful for getting actual work done, because you can create rooms and you can add or remove people from rooms. Let’s say in your real estate business you have property management and then you’ve got renovations. In the renovations room you can add your contractors and your project manager and anyone else involved on the renovation side of things. In the property management room you can add the property manager, the maintenance crew and whoever is responsible for the property management side of the business. Whenever someone comments in there or posts a message, everyone can see it, and everyone is notified when someone is messaging.
You can also share photos, links, attachments and all kinds of other stuff. So HipChat is number three. It is a powerful tool to properly communicate with your business associates without having to call each other all the time to share whatever necessary information is needed.
Tool No. 4: ‘Traction’
The fourth powerful tool I recommend is actually a book, titled “Traction.” So let’s say you finally have gotten your act together and you’re on your way to becoming a successful real estate investor. You’ve done quite a number of deals and now you’re building your team but you still haven’t got a clue how to build a team or how to build a successful business. That is where the book “Traction” comes in.
I’m telling you, it is the Bible for anyone running a small business of $2 million to $50 million. It is a must! It gives you a direction and a structure you should have for a small business. For instance, everyone has to be accountable for a certain role in the company. Everyone has his or her own little box and in that box there are certain tasks that person has to complete. You cannot allow anyone to go into another person’s box. Whoever is designated to that one box has to stay in that box and own that box. They have to complete all the tasks relating to that particular box.
To me, it is an amazing way to structure your business. It keeps everyone accountable. It keeps everyone on the same page. It keeps everyone rolling in the same direction. There is just more structure when people know what they’re doing and the company knows where it is going. It changed my world around six months ago when I read it and implemented all the things the book preaches. In my business, with a high cash flow, we took off; we skyrocketed. So I recommend it highly for anyone who owns a small business, real estate or not.
Tool No. 5: Your own hard work
Finally, tool—or tip—No. 5: Hustle your *** off! Wake up before everyone. Go to sleep after everyone. Work harder, and work smarter. Real estate is a numbers game: it takes a commitment of 80+ hours and an undivided focus within those hours for you to succeed, I believe. If the average person works 40 hours per week and you want to be a multimillionaire and succeed you have to work 80 hours per week. I’m talking about focusing on the task at hand, being productive and really getting the job done. That is Tip No. 5. It’s true—nothing comes easy in life; you have to work your *** off and have to work really hard.
Of course that’s not the be-all, end-all list of tools and by themselves, they’re not going to guarantee you’ll succeed. That comes from you—your passion, commitment and unending hard work.
Good luck!
About the author
Engelo Rumora, aka “The Real Estate Dingo,” is a successful property investor, motivational speaker and author who quit school at 14 for a professional soccer career, then hit upon real estate investing as not just a way to create wealth but as his passion. In Australia, he was able to build a property portfolio valued at more than $1 million in only six months, and he also was known for buying Australia’s “cheapest house.” He founded Ohio Cashflow, now a multimillion-dollar real estate investing company based in Toledo, Ohio, and assists other property investors worldwide. Contact Ohio Cashflow at 844-289-8876 or admin@engelorumora.com.
good article. think realty sounds a bit pricey to me when i really cant determine the return of the product. bp is great and you get a lot free there, but i do understand there ae strings when things are free. you mentioned the book traction, which i found available on amazon ( https://amzn.com/1936661837 ) and i may get it and check it out. will check out hipchat also. thanks.