G.E.T. More Money! Obtaining Additional Income

YPN’s final G.E.T (Grow. Elevate. Thrive) breakfast of the season was held at Manny’s on Wednesday, August 30, and featured a panel on how to tap into multiple facets of real estate to earn more income. Grace Goro-Kaage, Coldwell Banker Residential, moderated a panel including Chris Pezza, Miller Chicago LLC, Marki Lemons-Ryhal, Marki Lemons-Ryhal Unlimited, and Michael Shenouda, Honore Properties.

Property Management

The three panelists heavily focused on property ownership and management to maintain a steady income every month. Pezza recommends starting small with clients you may know or a neighborhood you feel comfortable in. From there, you can learn the ropes and start to build a network of advisers to make your management more efficient. Shenouda agreed and said doing your homework about investing in property and being a landlord is extremely important. He recommended checking out the neighborhood stats of pricing and value, what amenities are in the area and the kind of network you may need to build to run your buildings efficiently. Check out our Essentials of Property Management course to learn more about property management. If you’re purchasing some of your first properties, look for something not already on the MLS. Pezza’s tip is to “buy the ugliest thing on the block” and add renovations as needed. He warns to be wary of what renovations you make because you may not receive a return investment on some of the more glamorous, costly touches. Shenouda says his full-proof way of a positive management experience is to have units in well-known areas and to only lease to tenants with high credit scores.

Teaching

Ryhal and and Pezza both have taken advantage of teaching to earn more income. Ryhal’s advice is to find something you’re good at and build your brand from there. For her, it’s the real estate industry and social media. She found that rather than writing courses for just one real estate school, it made more sense for her to write courses and create a contract with these schools so she could keep her own content and share it through multiple platforms. Ryhal reminded everyone that getting licensed is just the first step in the real estate industry; the future path is up to you. Pezza realized his vast experience in property management and in the industry could be valuable to others. He compiled his knowledge and is now teaching an Essentials of Property Management course to help others. Teaching is not only rewarding, but also puts extra income in your pocket.

Make Yourself Valuable

From referrals to due diligence, your time can easily be capitalized to earn more money. Ryhal earns much of her supplementary income from referrals. She takes into account her knowledge of an area and her schedule and then decides whether to take on a client or not. Often, she has a full plate and will refer the client to someone else. This takes the pressure off of her and also earns her money from the referral. Pezza has offered his vast knowledge and opinions to earn more money. One way of doing that is Broker Opinion Value. Assessing properties even a few times a month can you earn you extra income and later on, possibly get you listings and property management opportunities from that BOV. Pezza also reminded everyone that offering knowledge and advice to others should be brief and otherwise charged for. Developers and buyers would much rather pay a smaller amount for your property evaluation expertise in the beginning to save big in the end. All agreed that looking at trends and capitalizing on those trends in their early stages is the key to getting ahead of the game, whether it’s properties in a new neighborhood or writing coursework for a new area.