Owning investment real estate is a great option for those looking to make a longterm commitment as opposed as a shortterm speculation. The management of such investment should always be trusted to professionals who are dedicated and committed to the industry and know how to deal with complex situations that are otherwise commonly ignored by inexperienced landlords.It is of the utmost importance that property owners know how to select and interview the property management company that best seems to specialize in the kind of investment that they are looking to have managed.If you are unsure what to ask your potential property manager before you sign a long term agreement with them, here are some questions that you can use as a guideline.1. What kind of property management experience do you have? You need to know for how long they have managed property and whether they have enough back up from the rest of their group.2. How many properties do you currently manage? Hiring a property manager that handles several thousand units could be somewhat risky as your property might end up lost in an ocean of other properties.3. How often do you inspect occupied and vacant units? It is important to know the frequency of inspections in occupied units. The reasons why you need to know this information is because you need to be assured that there will be a comprehensive assessment of potential damage to occupied units that has been caused by tenants. You also need to know the frequency of inspection though vacant units to prevent any potential risk of fire or other casualties. Trust me, I have seen fires occur in vacant units.4. What do you do with the information obtained from unit inspections? This is particularly important to ask because you need to make sure that the property management company has policies in place regarding the payment of damages to units caused by tenants or their guest. It would be of no benefit at all if they just report to you that all units were inspected, if they do not not have an aggressive plan of action based on unit inspections.5. How important is preventative maintenance to you and how is this handled by your company? Extensive and costly deterioration can occur to properties if there isn’t a preventative maintenance plan in place. Your property manager should keep a preventative maintenance log showing all items inspected and addressed as well as the signature of the maintenance supervisor acknowledging completion of all required tasks.6. How do you handle ongoing/daily maintenance? You need to know whether one or more dedicated maintenance technicians will be assigned to your property (based on the size of the property and number of units). It is also important to know the level of engagement of the maintenance supervisor (if any) and his role in ensuring that all maintenance issues are being addressed.7. After hours emergency handling. Have the property manager explain their process for handling after hours emergencies such as water leaks, fire or any other casualties. Ask whether there is an after hours phone number which tenants would have access to.8. Tenant Selection Plan. You need to know if the property manager has a Tenant Selection Plan that can be customized for your property. The TSP will help define the requirements that potential tenants would have to fulfill prior to renting a unit to them. You might also be want to be involved in the development of the rental criteria to ensure that only applicant who meet your requirements are approved. Keep in mind that you as well as your property manager are required to observe and conduct business based on Fair Housing Law. Your property manager should be absolutely familiar with what terms to use and which ones avoid when advertising your vacant units and when interviewing applicants.9. Transparency. How can I have access to review accounts payables, delinquency reports, collections, etc. You as the property owner should define the frequency and types of reports that your property manager should make available to you.10. Property Market Analysis. Does your management team shop comparable properties to keep up to date with local occupancy rates, average rent rates, amenities offered, specials, etc.? Please be aware that not all property management companies provide this service.11. What is your area of specialty? It is important to keep in mind that there are several specialties within the property management industry. If you own commercial property, you should probably stay away from property managers that have experience managing only multifamily or condo properties. The most common areas of specialty in property management are: Single Family, Multifamily, Condo Associations, Cooperatives, Retail, Medical, Commercial and Industrial.Management companies that specialize in the management of distressed and difficult-to-manage properties are usually capable of handling a broader spectrum of assets and engagement types, such as REO, Receiverships, and disputed assets.Retaining the right property manager can enhance the value of your investment property while making your life easier as you don’t have to deal with the headaches that this activity often represents. If you have plans to expand your real estate investment portfolio it is definitely worth having a strong property management company on your side.

With most transactions being done through the aid of the computer and the Internet, home based businesses conducted online have gained immense popularity over the years. Opportunities abound in the Internet and many people try their luck in engaging in one or more business ventures. However, not all players who have online home based businesses have met with success, as the probability of failure is equally comparable.If you are interested in engaging in an online home based business, then you must remember that establishing one requires hard work on your part. Bear in mind that this is all about you, your product or service, your time schedule, how you execute your marketing program, creating and keeping your network of clients and prospective clients, and in the end, generating income for your business.In setting up your online home based business, you need to have a start up capital, the amount will depend on what business you want to go into. Your capital should take care of your overhead costs like electricity use, Internet connection, and other equipment, like a new computer, that you might need in starting your online home based business. If you want to sell products online, then your funds will be used to build up your inventory of items to be sold.In choosing what online home based business you want to establish, there are a lot of alternatives to choose from. If you want to sell your services, then there are businesses involving copy writing, web site building, web content writing, acting as consultant for research or marketing projects, or financial consultancy. If you prefer to sell products, your web site can serve as a store showcasing your own handicrafts or goodies/treats or you can act as middleman and sell other people?s products. Selling second hand products like clothes or books is another option and you can do this through setting up auctions or bids online.Having an online home based business can be profitable if you just know how to properly manage it.

What are the things you should look for when you choose a home based business? That is a question often asked to me. Now, I’ve tried many different things, made a lot of mistakes, and also I’ve wasted a lot of money online. In my opinion, it is okay to waste money trying new things but when you waste money on things people already tried and failed on, then you’re just being a complete idiot. I’ve failed many times and wasted a lot of money, so learn from my experiences and failure so you don’t need to fail anymore.So what are the things you should look for when choosing a home based business:1. A Unique ProductThe first thing you should look for in a home business is a business that offers a unique product. You should never join a business that product is already filled with competitors, where the niche is already saturated. Perfect examples for this are vitamins, juices, pills, and lotions, these kinds of products are often found in MLM opportunities.These kinds of old school marketing niches are bad businesses or products if you want to get a decent amount of income online or a successful business going for a long time.Now, what you want is a product that appeals to many people but doesn’t have too many competitions yet. When you sell pills to lose fat, you can only sell that to fat people, correct? Try finding a product that can be sold to all people.2. A Great Support Team And NetworkThe second thing to look for when you choose a home based business would be a great support network. Unless you’re someone that is an expert on Internet Marketing or you’ve many experiences you would want to choose a home business that offers a great support network that you can rely on when you run into problems and you need solutions.A great support network would be like a forum, this is the place where you get personal and specific solutions for you problem. A 1-800 number would be perfect, it allows you to call and talk directly with the support team. A personal sponsoring consultant or mentor like me, I often get questions from my members and it’s my responsibility to help them and answer them. So having a personal sponsoring consultant is a great idea. Webinars and live conference calls that is held on a daily basis would be great too, this is the place where you could interact with the other members here.So when you choose a home based business, make sure that your business has all of those. Those are the things you must look for in a home based business.3. An Honest Company ManagementThe third thing would be an honest company management. When you choose a home based business to start on, make sure you know the company management. This is a must when you decided to be on a long term business with the company. You would want to know what type of individual runs the company. A person with a good track of success record and good reputation is someone you want to work with.Now, you don’t want to wake up one day and watch that your CEO has ran away with all your money in the news.4. A Great Marketing SystemThe next one is a great marketing system; this is a really important thing to look for in a home based business. Now, it doesn’t matter if you have the greatest product in the world but you’re not marketing it or you don’t have a great marketing system to help market your product, it’s useless. It’s completely useless because you won’t be making any success or any money if you don’t market your product, which having success is the whole point on why you are in this business.Now, let me give you an example, my mom makes a better burger than McDonald but McDonald makes billions where my mom don’t make any money. Why? Because my mom never markets her product, that’s why she never make money from making burger.There are three things you want to look for when choosing a great marketing system:1. Would you want to do it?The first thing is you need to ask yourself would you want to do it. Now, you need to know a lot of old school MLM systems actually tell their members to go out and chase their friends and families. Now you ask yourself, do you want to do it? Are you thick skin enough to go and chase people to buy from you? Now even if you are thick skin enough, you would not want to do that for the rest of your life, correct?2. How would you respond to it?The second thing is you ask yourself how you would respond to it. If somebody chases after you with that kind of old school marketing method, harassing you until you buy their product or maybe join them in their business, what would you do? Would you buy from them? I don’t think you would. If you don’t even want to buy from people like them, just imagine yourself doing their marketing method, nobody would buy from you.3. Does it apply leverage?The third thing is does your company’s marketing system apply leverage? Internet is the biggest leverage of all; 1.4 billions users are on the internet every single day. Your product would be seen by 1.4 billions of users online. Now imagine that kind of leverage. Now, time leverage, for example does your company have a call center that will help you close sales while you’re doing your things? A predesigned website, prewritten emails follow up? So that you can concentrate on doing your things while your marketing system works for you 24/7, these kinds of marketing systems are what you should look for in a home based business.5. A Global Reach – Making Sales GloballyThe fifth thing is global reach. Does the home business have a global reach, meaning you could make sales globally from any part of the world?For example, when your market has ran out in the U.S, will you be able to sell your products in Europe, Asia, Australia, or any country in the world?Products like vitamins, pills, lotions, and health products are those that are hard to be sold globally. Every country has its own rules; you will have a lot of hoops to jump through before you’re approved to sell your products in other country.Information and financial education products are preferable. You can sell them in any country in this world you want. If the product is unable to be sold online then there’s no use in doing a home based business because the strength in a home based business it’s that you’re going to be making money from global sales.6. A Decent Compensation PlanThe sixth will be a decent compensation plan. A good compensation plan is one that offers a simple to understand, big upfront income, and also a decent residual income built in.What I meant by simple is that it is easy to understand. When you ran into compensation plan that is so confusing that you can’t understand it then don’t do it, chances are nobody will understand it.Second, always look for a home based business that offers a big upfront income, about $1,000+ per sale. So that you could quickly get out of your job and re-invest in your business so that you could achieve financial freedom really quick.After a big upfront income, you’d want a compensation plan that offers a decent residual income. So that you don’t have to work forever but still get paid for what you’ve done before, a lifestyle that you want without having to be bound by your job. I love what I’m doing.7. Giving Back To The SocietyNow last but not least, this is the thing that everybody overlooks and regards it as an unimportant aspect in a business, is your company giving back to the society? Now, every time your company does charity, giving back to the society, donating for social causes, they are indirectly building credibility online and offline.When people like your company, it will be easier for you to market and sell your products, correct? If you want to receive, first you must learn to give. That may sounds so cliché, but that is the universal law in all business, will it be home based business or brick and mortars.Now let’s summarize, what are the things to look for when you choose a home based business:1. A unique product2. A great support network3. An honest company management4. A good marketing system5. A global reach to sell your products6. A decent compensation plan7. A charitable companyIf the home business you’re looking for has all that criteria then you’re in good shape. It would be a mission impossible for you to fail in that home business. Now the main reasons I were able to present these advices were of course, I had those experiences. Where do I get it? The company I work with of course.