 By: Lance Miller I dare you to get in your car, start it, put on your seat belt, put it in drive, close your eyes, and then push the gas. Actually, I hope you don’t do this. It’s not really smart. But, driving with your eyes closed actually happens to many of us. There’s even a term for it: Familiarity Blindness. You get so used to something that you stop truly seeing it.
Let me give you an example. Let’s pretend you are going to buy a new house to live in. The location is great and the size is what you have been looking for. And while there are lots of things to like about it, it’s not quite 100% perfect. There are a few things that you need to change to make it “just right”. So you start a list. And on your list, you are going to paint some rooms, change some flooring, upgrade the landscaping, and replace the front door. You start picking out colors and styles and dreaming of what it will be like. Your plan is to get this work done as soon as it is officially yours. But you get busy with life, your original house sells, and you have to move in quickly. You have to unpack, set things up, have a place to cook and eat, and get back to work. Pretty soon, all those critical things that really bothered you at first now start to take a back seat to life’s other issues. You’ll handle it tomorrow you tell yourself. And before you know it, weeks have turned into months and months into years. That to do list you started with is nowhere to be found and you really don’t even remember what bothered you in the first place. You now have Familiarity Blindness. Management Blindness Managing your commercial real estate can be the exact same. I’m sure you had great intentions in the beginning when you first bought your property. Initially, there were all kinds of things you were going to do. But life and time have pushed most of those items to out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Or better stated, you now have Familiarity Blindness. So let’s take a moment and go back in time. We are going to try to remove the blindness by showing you 5 tips for maximizing your property’s income. Reduce The first tip is to always be working to reduce your expenses. This is not a one-time event! This needs to be something that never leaves your mind. Even though you may love your vendors, take time to bid out contracts and lock in costs. Review your property taxes and file for a valuation appeal if needed. Be cost conscious at all times. Systemize Income is awesome. The more the merrier, right? But there are a ton of income variables for each tenant like insurance, utilities, maintenance, late fees, lost checks, etc. The only way to stop these issues from slowly draining your bottom line is by having the proper systems and software in place to guard your treasure. Think Little Are you dreading the day that you have cough up a huge wad of cash for a major repair? Replace that mindset with spending a little money on preventative maintenance and help push major repairs into the next decade. A good preventative maintenance plan costs little in comparison to big ticket items and can save you $1000’s. Partner You should be cheering on your tenants to succeed. If they win, you win. Remember a successful tenant will reward you with on-time payments, long-term leases, and traffic to your building. Consider what you can do to keep their building looking nice, clean and inviting to them and their clients. Get Creative Every single square foot of the property you own has some income producing value. Think outside the box on how to best utilize it. Reserved parking areas, storage spots, vending areas, additional amenities, cell towers, and more can all be options. See Clearly Again So, did any of these items remind you of something? Did they bring back memories of what you were going to do once upon a time? If so, then you’re on the path to curing your familiarity blindness. Or if you would like some more help, we’d love to talk. Just shoot me an email or phone call. Lance
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