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TRUMP UNIVERSITY WEALTH BUILDING 101

When I lived in Dubai (UAE), a colleague owned four rental properties
in France, another owned rentals in Alabama, another owned rental houses

located in Perth—and none employed a property management firm. You can
self-manage rental properties from anywhere in the world. Don’t be afraid of
long-distance property management. Here’s the secret: Offer good value and
select great tenants. Put a system in place to handle repairs, vacancies, emer-
gencies, and you shouldn’t encounter serious diffi culties.

Tenant-Assisted Management

You may need local assistance. For intermittent vacancies and general prop-
erty oversight, you should enlist the help of one of your longer-term tenants.
In exchange, you can give that tenant discounted (or free) rent and a variety
of upgrades for his or her living quarters.

Property Management Companies

As a general rule, I do not recommend using large residential property

management companies, although other investors I know find them satisfac-

tory. I don’t think this type of firm will strive to give my properties the com-
petitive advantage that I’m seeking because they are also working for dozens
of my competitors. If self-management issues deter you from investing out of
your area, then by all means employ a property management company. Just
make sure the company follows your entrepreneurial strategy. Delegate, don’t
abdicate.

Emerging Growth Areas

Recently in San Francisco, I shared the speaker’s platform with Richard
Florida (author of The Rise of the Creative Class , New York: Basic Books, 2003)
and Rich Karlgaard (publisher of Forbes magazine and author of Life 2.0 .,
New York: Crown, 2004). Neither claims expertise in real estate, but both
offer real estate investors good points to ponder.
In different ways, Florida and Karlgaard have researched the areas of
the United States, as well as specifi c cities, which will experience long-term

profitable growth. They point out that today, people do not necessarily move
to where the jobs are; rather jobs (at least the best-paying jobs) move to
where the population that Richard Florida dubs the “creative class” want
to live.

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