What does a full-time real estate investor do all day?

I started investing in real estate nearly six years ago.  I still remember the first house I bought… a little 2-bedroom bungalow on Rogers Avenue.  I never imagined that little house would lead to me becoming a full-time real estate investor.

As a newbie investor, I found myself regularly asking, “What does a full-time real estate investor do?”

Depends on the investor

The day-to-day for a real estate investor won’t always look the same as there are many kinds of real estate investing.

Some investors are primarily focused on wholesaling while others are heavily involved in rehab or new construction.  Then you have those that focus exclusively on building a rental property portfolio.

Over the last 6 years, I’ve built a rental property portfolio of nearly 40 rental units, and I also flip 10-15 houses per year.  So, flipping and renting is what I’m primarily focused on.  I also have my real estate license, so, every now and then, I help people buy and sell houses, but that’s not my primary focus.

Here is what a typical day looks like for me:

6:45 am – Roll out of bed and get ready for the day
7:30 am – Drop the kids off at school
8:15 am – Arrive at my “office” (aka Starbucks)
8:30 am – Follow up on emails, phone calls, and other admin tasks
10:30 am – Research properties online, tour properties
Noon – Meet with my construction supervisor to get status updates on flips, and review maintenance requests from tenants
1:30 pm – Quick lunch
2:00 pm – Submit offers, negotiate deals, request construction draws for projects under rehab
3:00 pm – Other misc. tasks and errands
4:00 pm – Head back home for the day

Even though I own close to 40 rental units, there aren’t many property management-related tasks on my list, even though I self-manage.

This is because I use efficiency to screen tenants and Rently lockboxes which allows prospects to tour the properties themselves.  These two tools allow the rental property side of my business to run virtually on autopilot.