THE BAD NEWS: I can’t answer that question for you.
THE GOOD NEWS: You could (and should!) answer it for yourself.
This blog post will explain how and why you should track how much of your time it takes up being a Landlord. And then what you can do with that information.
Let’s start with why I can’t answer the question for you
It’s because the answer is “it depends”. The time spent being a Landlord depends on many factors, including how many properties you have (obviously!), whether you self manage or let via an estate agent, the age of the property (older ones = more repairs), how far away the property is (assuming you visit once in a while) and importantly, whether you have processes in place to automate the tasks involved in managing the property.
So the answer to the question in the blog title could vary from almost no time at all, to it being a full time job requiring 50+ hours a week.
However here’s the good news:
As landlords we are in a position to know exactly how much time we spend being a Landlord. The even better news is that it’s super easy to do this. Here’s how I do it:
“Each month, alongside recording all my financial data, I write down how much time I’ve spent on each property, to the nearest hour”.
It takes only a few minutes to do this each month, as I don’t worry about it being 100% accurate to the nearest minute. Instead I simply think back over the month and guesstimate the time spent on each property (in another post, I’ll explain my system for recording all the property related tasks I do which makes it even easier to track my time).
The result?
Using this simple process means I have a wealth of “time” data. I know how long I spend on each property every year. I know which properties take up more time, how this compares to prior years and how much time I spend overall.
That data is powerful. Think back to me likening a profitable Investment Property to a healthy fruit tree. Well data is to Financial Performance like what roots are to a tree. It’s the core. Its the fundamentals which ensure not only the survival, but also health and success of the tree/property.
I appreciate the irony of it taking extra time to record time! But it’s really important for Landlords to record their “time” data as you can use this to make strategic decisions which optimise the financial performance of my properties.
How so? I want to know how to save time, not add to it.
I’d agree. But think of it as time investment, not spent.
Let me explain it this way: I think we’d all agree that us Landlords want to make money out of our properties. But making money is no use if it consumes all our time. Or even if it consumes our time inefficiently.
For example, lets say a property provides a yearly profit/cashflow of £5,000. That sounds nice right? Well if that same property requires you to spend 1000 hours (I’m exaggerating to show a point), then really it only makes you £5 an hour. Would you sacrifice your time for £5 an hour? Probably not. Definitely not once you factor in the extra stress and worry that comes with running your own business (property).
How does that “per hour” return compare to a property that provides a yearly profit/cashflow of £2,000, yet only takes up 50 hours of your time? I’ll let you calculate the profit per hour on that one and decide which property you’d prefer.
What can you do with that data?
Armed with this “time” data, you can make changes to how you run a property (perhaps its time to stop doing the repairs yourself, or hire an agent, or even sell a property if its too time consuming). That decision part is up to you, based on your own situation and preferences. The key message is that without tracking your time, you won’t know about any time inefficiencies or potential enhancements you could implement!
And thats why I want to know exactly how much time I spend on each property, each month. I compare this to the monthly profit that same property provides (FYI I also track other metrics such as stress and tasks done but I’ll save that for another post). Its only by collecting this “time” data that I truly know how well a property is performing.
I’ll say it again: Data is powerful. A little time invested tracking time spent could save you a lot of time/money in the long run!