Organizing Your Office
As a beginning investor, there are things you need to do to get yourself organized.
Making A Space To Work
Start by setting aside a space in your home for working, for doing deals, and conducting your business. It is important if possible that your work space be secluded enough that you will not be disturbed by other family members while working, studying, or on the telephone with important contacts and sellers.
Your workspace should at least consist of a table to write on and a telephone. The phone should also have call waiting and either an answering machine or voice mail system.
By setting up a space in your home for doing business you will feel more professional and dedicated.
Tools Of The Trade
As a real estate investor, there are certain "tools of the trade" you must have.
Get A Daily Planner
First, get a daily planner and use it. The most important tool you can have as a real
estate investor is a daily planner so you can keep track of who you need to call, along with people's phone numbers. You can also put a to-do list in your planner.
See Franklin Covey Planner and Day Timer Planner.
Cell Phone
The next most important thing an investor needs is a cell phone. A cell phone can instantly put you in contact with real estate agents and sellers while you are at a property. It will also allow agents, sellers, other investors, and also homebuyers to easily contact you no matter where you are. You don't want to miss that million-dollar phone call from a seller with the deal of a lifetime.
A Fax Machine Is A Must
You are also going to need a fax machine because you will be faxing things back and fourth to your title company and real estate agents and maybe even other investors.
If you have a computer you can get fax software to use with a scanner.
However, we highly recommend that you get a dedicated fax machine on a dedicated phone line that does not require you to flip a switch or turn it on for it to receive faxes while you are out. A dedicated phone line will only cost you about $10 or $15 a month or you can get a phone line switch that will automatically switch the phone line over to your fax machine when the switch detects an incoming fax.
I use Efax.com to receive only faxes to my computer. These faxes are stored on a removable portable hard drive. To send a fax, I print to Microsoft fax.
A Filing Cabinet
You should also have a filing cabinet to store important documents and files that is dedicated to your investing endeavors. You may not need one right away but once you start looking for deals, you'll find yourself needing a way to keep all your papers organized.
Digital Cameras
A digital camera can also be very handy. And they are really cheap. Get a 1 Gig memory stick.
If you are tracking down vacant houses or dealing with "for sale buy owners", a digital camera is a necessity. One of the most effective ways to get deals is by following up with a seller two or three months down the road. You are going to need that picture so you can remember the property and the physical condition it was in.
These cameras have really come down in price in recent years and you can get a cheap one for as little as $50 dollars or so. You could use a 35 mm camera; however, it will tend to get expensive developing film and you won't want to use a Polaroid camera because the picture quality is so low.
Street Map
A street map is also a must for any real estate investor. It is best to have one that is a book rather than a large foldout sheet. The book style maps are much easier to handle when you are in your car.
I also use mapquest.com.
Personal Computer
Finally, if you do not have a personal computer, you should seriously consider getting one. They can be very handy for drawing up agreements and tracking your leads. There are also a ton of resources online for real estate investors including the http://www.REISkills.com website.
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