What’s something you love to do but you hate to have to do it?
Use the toilet.
Like breathing, you’d rather not have a biological imperative to do it, but you are sure in a bind when you can’t. And it feels so good when you do do it.
Welcome to DoctorEquity’s 150th blog post. We’ve made it a long way. When I started writing 4 years ago, I had 11 doors. Now I have 118 and I’m loving it. I can’t wait to see what the next 4 years bring. Let’s get back to the toilets-
If having to use the toilet prevented you from going outside your house, you’d never leave. That would be silly. So, why do toilets prevent so many people from investing in real estate?
Everything Has a Toilet
Well, not everything, but every piece of real estate. And if it doesn’t have one you can be sure if it needs one. The apartment building has a bunch of them, the restaurant does, the commercial building has two in the back, the warehouse does, and in a pinch that piece of land has a tree.
I’ve heard numerous would-be investors say that they don’t want to deal with tenants and toilets. I have news for them: no one does. That’s not fun, but collecting the rent is. Use part of that rent to pay someone to deal with the tenants and toilets for you. Sure, it’s not easy, but if it were, then everyone would do it.
Tall, short, elongated bowl or round, it’s all the same. The toilet leaks, gets clogged, and gets dirty. It can never make your bathroom look better. It can only hope to not detract from an otherwise beautiful room. Consider the septic guy for a minute. His entire job is driving around in a truck filled with waste and pumping more of it out of the septic tank. Yet, he is still doing it. Because it makes him money. Sure, it’s work, but if it were easy…well, you know.
The toilet is really a metaphor for every dumb yet inevitable problem you will have as a landlord. Anticipate the toilet breaking. Budget for it. Prepare for it and you’ll be ready. When it breaks down, you’re ready, and it causes you no worry. Do this for the rest of the usual problems every landlord encounters. Don’t let the toilet stop you from making that great investment. Bring a pen and a plunger to your next closing and you’ll be ready.
Oh, and just like your friend did after New Year’s last year, embrace the toilet.
