You May Be Born To Be A Commercial Landlord If…

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Are you thinking of venturing into commercial real estate business? You probably already know what it takes to own commercial property. What you may not know is that it takes special qualities to be a successful commercial landlord. A look at the checklist below will give you a hint as to whether you are cut out to be one:

You Have People Skills

As a commercial landlord, you will be meeting all kinds of people; strangers with different values and personalities, some that you may not even like. You will have difficult clients and may occasionally need to mediate disputes between tenants. Your people skills will come in handy and may have a role to play in determining whether you get and/or keep clients. It certainly helps if you have a likable personality.

You're Organized

Being a landlord can be time-consuming. It involves taking pictures, advertising, interviewing tenants, organizing viewing, fixing maintenance problems, collecting rent etc. You'll need to be organized to get your tasks accomplished, especially if you're planning on keeping your day job.

You're Handy

It helps to be handy if you are a commercial landlord as there will always be maintenance issues needing your attention; heating, electrical and plumbing problems, among others. You can hire people for such jobs but will save money if you do them yourself.

You're Informed, or Willing to Become Informed

You need to be informed about legal aspects of commercial real estate; your rights and obligations as a landlord and the rights and obligations of your tenants. You need to be familiar with laws pertaining to discrimination, safety, handling tenants' security deposits, health, eviction laws etc.

You're Available and Flexible

A commercial landlord is on duty 24/7 as the working hours are irregular and unpredictable. Problems will arise that will require your immediate attention. You should, therefore, be ready for the unexpected. Imagine a situation where the heating suddenly fails in the middle of winter, or there's no power in your building. Whereas you are advised to have fixed office hours when you can attend to regular problems, be ready for emergency calls in the middle of the night.

Owning commercial real estate is a huge achievement. Congratulations! But it takes more than that to be a successful commercial landlord. If you seem to fall short, don't despair. You can still consider honing your skills or if you can afford it, hire a property manager.

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