Stories from the person building this.

Some of the most important repairs I've ever made generated zero phone calls.

Early on, I had a rule I never said out loud: no big houses.

Vacancies are one of the biggest profit killers in this business.

Every turnover has the same trap in it: there's always one more thing you could fix.

He was the tenant you hope for.

When I bought my first rental, I could keep the whole operation in my head.

My first rental needed a roof, and I needed it done fast.

When I bought my first rental, I had a quiet assumption running in the background: give it a few years, and I'd have this figured out.

I own two properties that, on paper, are nearly twins.

There's a ceiling stain in one of my properties that I still think about — because of when I found it.

A few years ago an HVAC unit went out at one of my properties, and I stood in my kitchen for ten minutes trying to remember the name of the company that had serviced it last. I knew I'd used someone good. I could picture the van. I could not, for the life of me, produce a name or a number.

When I bought my first rental, I looked at a 10% management fee and did the math in about four seconds. My margins were already thin. Handing over a tenth of the rent felt like handing over the entire reason I'd bought the place.

The tenant called on a Tuesday. The shower was leaking.