Back sore? Check. Tired? Check. Hatred of package handlers at an all-time high? Check. It must be peak season at the shipping depot! I’m still recovering from Sunday’s brutal 12 hour shift. Even though this will be the final peak season I'll ever have to work,that knowledge won't make me feel better until it's finally over. So, while I try to recover and relax a little, I can finally catch up on some blog posts today and tomorrow.
A couple weeks ago I had my monthly dinner with Damon. After October’s monumental dinner, I wasn’t expecting any more pieces of mind-blowing information. And I was right.
Damon lamented that his contractor Igor was taking too long to do the renovations for his single-family Vacancy Bank property. I assumed that Igor had been working for Damon a little over a month, but it had actually been 3 months. 3 MONTHS! THREE months and the contractor only did a bathroom and some sheet rock?! He tried to explain it to me that Igor is "a perfectionist", like this was my first time in real estate or something. I yelled at him to fire Igor because he's getting screwed over. Damon is falling for those classic handyman lies he gives him a deadline and Igor keeps making excuses as to why things aren’t getting done. Then when Damon gets pissed and gives a new deadline, Igor says something like, “Oh yeah, no problem” in a way that Damon actually believes. I’ve been there, and I told him how lucky he is that he has someone on the outside of the situation that can see how he’s being screwed over. Every month that Damon believes those lies, that’s another $1000 he has to pay back for the high-interest loan. The work that he’s asking to be done should have been finished in a month! And this was the guy Damon recommended be a property manager for Property X??? Ugh!
Damon said he knew of a professional crew that can finish the work fast, and I told him to get them working immediately. And, even though he has to fire Igor, I suggested that Damon fire him in a way that he can still call him for the small repairs. Igor appears to be a guy who knows what he’s doing, but can’t handle big projects. He’ll take his time trying to balance the big project with the other little projects he has to do. That’s not his forte. He can handle little repairs and that makes him valuable, so keeping a guy like him around is always a good thing. He agreed to fire Igor after dinner. That was on November 18th. Two days ago (29th) he called me, lamenting that he gave Igor another chance. The result? Same broken promises. Damon seems to have issues firing people that he needs to address if he wants to be a good real estate investor. He kept trying to squeeze a little extra out of Igor but will end up paying more money for every month he keeps him. Hopefully he'll finally wake up and use the professional crew.
I wanted to bring my 2016 plan to Damon so he could look it over. But after his issues with the contractor, I think I’m better served bringing it up to either real or fake Bob. Overall, the main lesson I took away from this dinner was believe in the work and not the words. If a handyman says that he’ll be done by a certain date, and he’s missed deadlines in the past FOR THE SAME JOB, that means he’s not gonna finish. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lying, but he may simply not know his own limitations. That’s the investor’s job. And if the investor follows the contractor around like a bitch, hoping he will go against his nature and finish like a pro, then he needs to get out of the business while he still has money to invest.
A couple weeks ago I had my monthly dinner with Damon. After October’s monumental dinner, I wasn’t expecting any more pieces of mind-blowing information. And I was right.
Damon lamented that his contractor Igor was taking too long to do the renovations for his single-family Vacancy Bank property. I assumed that Igor had been working for Damon a little over a month, but it had actually been 3 months. 3 MONTHS! THREE months and the contractor only did a bathroom and some sheet rock?! He tried to explain it to me that Igor is "a perfectionist", like this was my first time in real estate or something. I yelled at him to fire Igor because he's getting screwed over. Damon is falling for those classic handyman lies he gives him a deadline and Igor keeps making excuses as to why things aren’t getting done. Then when Damon gets pissed and gives a new deadline, Igor says something like, “Oh yeah, no problem” in a way that Damon actually believes. I’ve been there, and I told him how lucky he is that he has someone on the outside of the situation that can see how he’s being screwed over. Every month that Damon believes those lies, that’s another $1000 he has to pay back for the high-interest loan. The work that he’s asking to be done should have been finished in a month! And this was the guy Damon recommended be a property manager for Property X??? Ugh!
Damon said he knew of a professional crew that can finish the work fast, and I told him to get them working immediately. And, even though he has to fire Igor, I suggested that Damon fire him in a way that he can still call him for the small repairs. Igor appears to be a guy who knows what he’s doing, but can’t handle big projects. He’ll take his time trying to balance the big project with the other little projects he has to do. That’s not his forte. He can handle little repairs and that makes him valuable, so keeping a guy like him around is always a good thing. He agreed to fire Igor after dinner. That was on November 18th. Two days ago (29th) he called me, lamenting that he gave Igor another chance. The result? Same broken promises. Damon seems to have issues firing people that he needs to address if he wants to be a good real estate investor. He kept trying to squeeze a little extra out of Igor but will end up paying more money for every month he keeps him. Hopefully he'll finally wake up and use the professional crew.
I wanted to bring my 2016 plan to Damon so he could look it over. But after his issues with the contractor, I think I’m better served bringing it up to either real or fake Bob. Overall, the main lesson I took away from this dinner was believe in the work and not the words. If a handyman says that he’ll be done by a certain date, and he’s missed deadlines in the past FOR THE SAME JOB, that means he’s not gonna finish. It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lying, but he may simply not know his own limitations. That’s the investor’s job. And if the investor follows the contractor around like a bitch, hoping he will go against his nature and finish like a pro, then he needs to get out of the business while he still has money to invest.
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