How to Improve Your Work-Life Balance as a Katy Landlord

May 19, 2016 by Green

katy realtor work life balance
Being a landlord in the Katy area comes with a long list of advantages. The market is healthy, there’s ample opportunity to land good tenants, and crime rates are relatively low.

In sum, if you are interested in becoming a successful landlord, Katy is one of the ideal regions in the country. That being said, a thriving market demands a lot from a landlord. It’s not uncommon to have to put well over 40 or 50 hours a week into managing properties, drafting agreements, collecting rent, scheduling maintenance, and doing all of the other things that come along with the job title.

If you have a family, such a demanding workload could affect your personal life. So being a successful Katy landlord isn’t just about how many properties you can purchase and how many long-term tenants you can find.

You also need to take care of your personal responsibilities. Work-life balance should be a priority if you plan on remaining healthy as well as make a profit in the years to come.

Six Tips for a Healthier Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is a tricky goal; much depends on where you are in life. For example, a single man who has no family obligations and lots of time to dedicate to work will probably have a much easier time than the mother of three school-aged children who’s heavily involved in community activities.

No matter what your situation is, it’s imperative that you strive to establish a healthy work-life balance that gives reasonable priority to both family obligations and professional duties. The following tips may help you with this.

  1. Understand Why You Work

At the heart of an excellent balance of work and life is a proper understanding of why you work. Have you given serious thought to the purpose of work lately?

Understand Why You Work

It’s such a universal activity that we too easily neglect the reasons for it. Work keeps the lights on, pays the mortgage, sends your children to college, funds vacations, and makes a comfortable retirement possible.

When you begin to look at the reasons behind why you work, you may find more joy and appreciation in it. You’ll also feel less guilty about working. It’s not just something you’re doing to build wealth or fill up your time; it’s what you do to give your family freedom and happiness.

  1. Consolidate Calendars

A highly practical tip is to consolidate your calendar. Don’t keep a business calendar and a family calendar. You’ll end up overbooking yourself and encountering with conflicts.

Create a single calendar that everyone in the family has access to. As soon as something comes up, place it on there. This gives everybody a big-picture overview of what’s happening.

It also avoids the need to communicate with everyone else each time you have to schedule a meeting or work-related event. If the date is open on the calendar, you have the freedom to proceed.

There are a number of tools you can use, but try something like Google Calendar. You can grant access to everyone and access it from anywhere.

  1. Be Early to Rise

Be Early to Rise

If you want to spend more time with your family, you need to be available when they are. By waking up earlier in the morning and getting a head start on your work while everyone else is sleeping, you can finish earlier in the day and enjoy more time with friends and family.

Try the following experiment for a week and see what happens. Wake up one hour earlier than you typically do and knock out administrative tasks that don’t require the participation and input of others.

When the normal workday starts, you’ll be free to take care of the other duties. At the end of the day, knock off an hour earlier than you usually do. You’ll discover your workday isn’t compromised at all. In fact, you may be even more productive.

  1. Take Care of Yourself

Part of maintaining balance involves taking care of yourself physically. If you aren’t getting enough exercise and activity, you’re going to feel sluggish and unhealthy.

But I don’t have time,” you might say. This excuse is almost never valid. Though you may not have time to spend an hour at the gym every day, there are plenty of other ways to get some quick exercise in.

Think about jogging to work instead of driving. Use your lunch break to lift weights and then eat lunch at your desk. Handle phone calls while walking on the treadmill. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. All these little things will add up.

  1. Work From Home

Work From Home

When you’re a landlord, you often have the flexibility to work remotely. Why not work from home part of the day? You might have to deal with certain distractions, but there are also plenty of benefits. Even if you’re working, simply being present at home can help you balance your personal obligations.

  1. Hire a Property Manager

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself a simple question: What’s more important — money or family time? When you put it all together, you’ll probably recognize that the latter is far more important.

Hiring a property manager to handle the administrative details of your rental properties is one of the smartest things you can do. Sure, it’ll shave a few dollars off your monthly income, but it’ll also give you the flexibility to attend your daughter’s dance rehearsal or grab a weekend getaway with your boyfriend. The benefits almost always outweigh the costs.

Let Green Residential Help

At Green Residential, we’re here to help in any way we can. Whether you need assistance with a single component of your business — such as scheduling repairs or facilitating maintenance — or you’d prefer a full-service partner who can handle everything from property marketing and tenant screening to rent collection and evictions, we can do it.

Our property management services are considered among the best in Katy. We’ve been in business for more than 30 years and place a heavy emphasis on satisfying clients so they can focus on other areas of their professional and personal lives.

For additional information regarding any of our services — and to get a free analysis — please don’t hesitate to contact us today!

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