This Woman Makes Money Off Real Estate While Traveling the World
Investing in property and traveling don’t seem like they go together. How can you manage renovating, renting or managing an investment property when you live across the country or you’re adventuring around the world?
Good news: You can. Traveler and real estate maven Paula Pant shares her adventures on her blog, Afford Anything, where she notes she’s up to seven rental properties.
Instead of digging into the drywall and dust for weeks on end herself, Pant explains how she manages her properties from wherever she is in the world. Here’s a look at the team she built to make it work.
Managing Investment Properties From Afar: Build a Trusted Team
Three key players make Pant’s investments successful while she’s on the road.
1. Contractors
Pant describes text-message and photo exchanges with her contractors who renovate her properties in a way that fits her budget, but will maximize the return on the final product. Sometimes, she doesn’t even set foot in a property while a renovation is in progress.
By hiring a contractor she trusts, Pant knows the work will be done — and done well — without her direct supervision.
2. Property Managers
Sometimes it’s worth investing in a middle man. Pant describes hiring a property manager after a phone consultation. She signs the contract electronically and keeps tabs on the property’s needs by email.
The property management company does all the necessary upkeep, like cleaning gutters, and sends photos to Pant when tasks have been completed.
Even when she’s adventuring around the world, Pant knows her property is in good hands.
3. Tech Tools
Pant streamlined her system of screening rental applicants, signing leases and collecting rent payments by signing up for Cozy, which is free. Why deal with paperwork and stamps when you can use the wonders of the Web?
Do the Work Now to Enjoy Benefits Later
“Passive [money] is not free money,” Pant explains. “It’s characterized by working hard today so that you can enjoy the rewards in the future.”
By organizing and streamlining the way she manages her rental properties — and building relationships to help her — Pant is seeing the return on her investment (sometimes from some far-flung island or mountain range).
Visit Afford Anything for more real-estate management details and plenty of photos from Pant’s investment journey.
Your Turn: Do you own an investment property? How do you manage the day-to-day needs of the property?
Lisa Rowan is a writer, editor, and podcaster living in Baltimore.
