Being a landlord can be an agonizing and very rewarding business. I have been a landlord for over 14 years and currently have 55 rental units. I happen to love it, but it is not all roses all the time. Surprisingly, being a landlord is not that tough and you can manage many units without a lot of work, but you have to have your business set up correctly. You can scale your landlord business with or without professional property management. I happen to think property managers are expensive for what they do, but I also understand the tremendous value they can bring. There are many different reasons you should consider using a property manager, but before you make that decision consider these 6 questions:

Where are your properties located?

I have tried long distance management and can tell you it is tough. For it to work, you need great systems in place, which is not easy to set up when you are not on the ground. You will also most likely be relying, at least to some extent, on other people who are not licensed to do what you need them to do. This could include anything from signing a lease, to collecting rent, to fixing a faucet. In my business, I feel it is worth the money to hire property managers to manage all my out of state properties.

How many properties do you have?

You can manage a lot of properties with just a few hours of work a month. I manage all my in state properties myself because it is easy to do and is not worth it to me to pay someone else to do it. In fact, when you are getting started, I would strongly encourage you to manage your own properties. This will help you gain valuable experience, even if you want to eventually turn them over to a manger. To manage multiple properties, you need good systems. This includes a team to do your handy work (basic handyman, plumber, electrician, appliance repair, etc.) Obviously, this is all outsourced so you don’t need employees for this to work. You also need a great leasing agent. A leasing agent is someone who will typically give you advice on what needs to be done to get a unit ready and they will market, show, and negotiate your property. You can have them do the lease signing too, although I would recommend you do that so you get a chance to meet the tenant. Other systems you will need to implement include; rent collection, evictions, move ins and outs, maintenance requests, property improvements, enforcing the lease, transferring utilities, etc. I would consider a manager if I got so many properties that I felt overwhelmed, and in this case I would hand select properties to turn over.

Are you organized?

Here is where you have to be honest with yourself, which is not always easy to do. To manage multiple properties you really do need to be organized. You will have payments coming in for rent and going out for maintenance, mortgages, utilities and more. You will be getting maintenance requests, requests to add or remove people from the lease, request from government agencies, and requests from a slew of others. If you cannot stay on top of this, it is time to hire some professional help.

Do you have a problem property?

These are the worst and you won’t know you bought one until after you own it for a while. I have a few that give me trouble. Although I still manage them myself, those few problem properties take up more of my time than everything else I have combined. This is one time that I would consider a manager for a local property.

Can you afford it?

As I mentioned, property management can be expensive. You should expect to pay ½ or more of the first month’s rent in a leasing fee, 6-10 percent of the gross rent amount in a management fee, and additional costs for maintenance (this is usually marked up). I would try to look at this as if the property can afford it, not you. You really don’t want to get into the habit of feeding your investments, so if there is not enough cash flow from the property, then you might consider managing it yourself until you can get your expenses down or your rents up.

Do you have the time?

Because it only takes a handful of hours a month, my guess is you do have the time. The real question is, do you want to be managing the property with that time? As you get older and your goals change, it might make since to start to step away from your landlord business. Retiring is the obvious example. At that point in your life, you will most likely be deciding between professional management and liquidation.

If you tried to think of people involved in product creation, who would come to mind? You may think of Edison, Franklin, or maybe Henry Ford. Would you ever think of yourself as someone who can create a quality product? Product creation is actually relatively easy and product launching is not that tough either! If you follow a few easy to understand steps, you could be starting the product creation and product launching process sooner than you think.

The first step in creating your information product is to know and understand your market. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you are unsure of what to do or where to look to know your market. Studying your niche market and understanding the buzz words and buying patterns can ease the process dramatically. Personally, I would recommend networking with someone who has had success in the niche market you are considering and learn from their results. If they are into product creation and not very business savvy expect some hesitation. If they only sell products and have nothing to do with product launching or product creation you may your first affiliate (sales person)! Something else you can use to find hot trends is with the Google Trends tool.

The second step is the product creation process. Take your niche market and brainstorm ideas and topics relating to it. There are a lot of product launching contests going on recently relating to a newly created internet marketing tool. There are so many aspects to the mentioned niche that literally, and unfortunately, anything can be considered an Internet Marketing tool. The reason that anyone can basically create an Internet Marketing tool is because of something called Private Label Rights products.

What I use private label rights products for, and highly recommend them in this specific manner, is to cure writer’s block especially when it is lingering. Many people base their entire product creation and product launching on a private label rights product. This is where you can start to shine and build a strong brand for yourself. If you set goals for yourself, short-term goals to be exact, you can see your product creation come into being much faster and there is a good chance with less revision needed. If you keep hitting time restraint road blocks; however there is nothing wrong with a slow and steady approach, you can consider outsourcing portions of your project. Outsourcing can be an extremely huge benefit or just as great of a disaster.

You can find someone to outsource work to at a freelance site such as Guru.com or eLance.com. When reviewing proposals it is almost mandatory you perform a background check on them as you are in essence hiring them. Doing a background check on freelancers is as easy as asking for samples of their work and reviewing feedback on the freelance site from previous customers. Depending on the size and requirements of your project this can add up to a decent sized investment, so caution is very important. One tip I always recommend to people looking to hire an individual is to ask them what they can provide you that no one else can. This simple question gives them a chance to “toot their own horn” and acknowledge where they feel most competent as far as their skill set.

The final portion of the product creation and product launching formula is the launch. This can literally make or break the effort, time, and maybe (if you invested) money you put in to your project. There are numerous aspects to product launching and although their relevance is debated in terms to their effect, experts agree all must be followed. The person in your field who you asked for product advice from can help you substantially if you have kept in touch. If not, the first thing you need to do is to create a visually appealing website with flawless design work.

I also mentioned outsourcing before, this is one aspect of product launching I have little strength in and I always outsource this portion. The website does not have to be large however the content (ad copy in Internet Marketing) must be stellar and as perfect as possible. This is where advertising knowledge or experience is beneficial. When the site is set up you now put a lead capture form on your website.

I put two lead capture pages on all products I create on the internet and is one of the best methods of getting a solid start when you are in the product launching stage. When you gain information from a prospect or someone looking to get paid for referring sales you are able to provide them updates or specials. Many people abuse their prospect or affiliate lists by in turn emailing them with a new product daily and I find the recommendations to be totally unrelated to their original need, problem, or interest.

Another stage in the product launching stage is creating a free report or demo version of your product to entice the product to sign up to your email list. Using proper follow up with this can help generate numerous sales for you. One thing you need to ensure is that your free product completely relates to your main product that you are looking to sell.

You are now ready to advertise your product launching to customers as well as the opportunity to sell for affiliates. This is the single aspect that many product creations and launches fail on. It is actually not entirely difficult. One thing you can do is write articles (and a good amount of them) on topics relating to your product. I am a huge advocate of giving a solution in forums. When you join a forum you are normally offered the opportunity to create a signature. In your signature, you should enter the link to your opt-in or lead capture page. When you respond to posts, you are advertising your opportunity.

It is not impossible to create a product and it does not have to take a long time. You need to setup a plan and stick to it. If you get stuck, look at similar and successful products to your own and try and see how they did it. When you sit down and brainstorm you will be surprised with what you can imagine.

Though deeds vary from state to state, all deeds contain basically the same information. The names of the grantor, the words of conveyance, name of the grantee, consideration of statement, property of description, the agendum, the signatures and certifications.

Each section communicates the important information about the nature of the parties or the property or the transaction. Since the deed is the heart of most real estate transactions, it must be scrutinized carefully by both the buyer and there seller, if they’re to protect their interests. The person giving up ownership is the grantor.

Then the person receiving the deed is calling the grantee. The name of those exciting the deed as grantor appears first. These persons must be the owners of the estate conveyed on the order that interest to pass.

The words of conveyance generally determine which promises or warranties the grantor makes to the grantee. When the words “warrant and convey” or “grant and convey” are used, this indicates the grantor promises or warrants the following:

1. That the grantor owns the estate transferred and will pay the grantee for his or her injury if it turns out that the grantee doesn’t receive the state described in the deed.

2. There are no liens, easements, leases, mortgages or other encumbrances which bind the grantee other than those disclosed in the deed.

Deeds of this type are generally called warranty deeds or grant deeds. They are the kind that are most used today. The other major type of deed is called the quitclaim deed. The words of conveyance, for it often included the word “quitclaim.” This deed merely transfers the grantor’s ownership, if any. No promises or warranties are implied in the deed.

If a professorship gave a student a warranty deed to the school building in exchange for $10,000 the student could sue and recover the money if it turned out that the professor did not own the building. If however, a quitclaim deed were given, the student could not recover the money.

Quitclaim deeds are often used to remove “clouds on title.” For example if a divorced man sold property and then died and the buyer feared that the man’s ex-wife might have a dower claim. The buyer could ask the ex-wife to execute a quitclaim deed. She might sign–perhaps in return for $75; but her lawyer would surely advise he to not to exude a warranty deed because she is not to certain that she owns any interest in the property.