NUTS & BOLTS COACHES CORNER
STRATEGIES: REITs Think Realty Coaches
MEET
LINDA LIBERATORE
like and don’t like, trends that might indicate it’s time to sell for a profit, indi- cators that can give you a heads-up that the market is about to turn, even ‘selling’ points that will attract better tenants at every price point. “The changes and evolution that are happening in artificial intelligence, ma- chine learning, database management, and analysis are so exciting. By keeping good records and handling your real estate data responsibly and productive- ly, you are creating the best reference resource available for your personal portfolio. My background in project management IT has always made that shine out to me, and it’s my passion to help other investors see their own data for its true worth.” WHY SHE’S HERE: “I’m not afraid of hard work, but anyone with rental properties will tell you that managing rentals, collecting rents, handling maintenance, and all the other moving pieces can be very, very hard. You make that process easier and you look for opportunities by network- ing and always looking for ways that you can reach people who need your services or who may provide a way for you to improve your own services. “I’m so passionate about helping other people, and when I realized that I could combine real estate with that passion, I really felt like I had found my place. The marriage between improving a situation for a landlord, empowering them to run their business and their in- vestments more profitably and with less stress, and establishing and improving systems is perfect for me. When I see an investor benefiting from the improve- ments I helped make or even keeping a property they thought they were going to lose because they changed their sys- tems, that is what I love.” BACKGROUND CHECK: When Linda Liberatore left her
management position in the banking industry to raise her children, she knew she would need to be creative in order to support her family and still have time to spend with her kids. “I began working for small businesses, two of which were real estate com- panies, who had a need to bring in what we referred to informally as the ‘technology dimension’ for their businesses,” she recalled. “This meant I handled their data, their proper- ty management software, such as it was back then, and I analyzed and sometimes trained other employees to be more effective at handling clients’ property investment portfolios.” In the early 2000s, she became involved in a web startup technology payment system at her daughter’s school and even- tually helped launch that now-highly suc- cessful company, which recently sold for more than a reported $190 million. “I was always looking for the next challenge,” she explained. Over time, Liberatore built a business of hundreds of landlord clients for whom she streamlines processes, maximizes efficiency and cashflow, and advises when they encounter financially threatening issues that Liberatore can help resolve with creative thinking and insight. Liberatore’s background in banking, project management, and software train- ing courses perfectly fit her new goals of helping investors systematize the diverse, highly complex world of rental proper- ties. “Those banking systems were very complicated,” she said. “If you do book- keeping in one state and then you move to a different state they probably use a completely different system: different software, different categories, everything is different. When you are a national company, you need somebody to analyze the whole business everywhere it oper- ates to see how it’s working, and a lot of businesses do not have that. She went on to explain that her DIY landlords need this type of analysis for their portfolios, but that there is
TITLE AND AFFILIATIONS: Founder & President of Secure Pay One Inc., Think Realty 2017 Property Manager of the Year, Board Member of Affordable Housing Corporation of Lake County, Mentor at the Fresh Start Business Incubator, President of the Lake County Property Inves- tors Association, Illinois Certified Technical Trainer, Brio Data Analyst, Chicago Housing Authority Instructor, volunteer educator in Chicago-area high schools and continuing education programs, and author of Daily Inspi- rations to Achieve Your Real Estate Investment Goals and My Landlord Helper: Keys to Managing Your Real Estate Investments, Achieving Explo- sive Growth, and Saving Money. THINK REALTY COURSES: Course 1: Buy and Hold Strategies Course 2: Knowing Your Lease EXPERIENCE: Linda’s clients and Think Realty students rely on her for everything from website consulting and design to tenant relations, and Liberatore is one of the most prominent and unique landlord re- sources available in an ocean of faceless, automated tenant-management software options. Liberatore’s clients are what she refers to as “do-it-yourself ” or “DIY landlords,” meaning that they directly manage their own properties and invest- ment portfolios. Her specialty is refining and honing that management process to maximize cash flow and efficiency. ON DATA, SYSTEMS AND ANALYSIS: “Today’s technology should be thrilling to the DIY real estate investor, especially if they are in the business of buying and holding rental properties. So many investors treat their software and data management systems like a chore, but really you are building a virtual gold- mine of practical, profitable information about your investments: what residents
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