You heard a lot of reasons why not to be an active landlord when you first got into real estate investing. One of them was this: you’d never be able to take a vacation again.

Maybe now it’s been five years since you bought your first property, and you really haven’t taken a vacation in all that time. Those travel brochures look pretty inviting. Or maybe there’s an investors convention or cruise where you could relax and get new ideas about our industry.

The truth is that you can get away for a weekend or even a week, as long as you prepare ahead of time. The preparation is no different than what any other professional needs to do. Simply put, you must make sure that everyone who depends on you knows you are going away; that you have backup people in place to take care of any problems that arise while you’re gone; that you can be reached in case of an absolute, drop-dead emergency; and that you don’t have any specific project that requires your presence scheduled for the same days as your trip.

My longest ever trip was two weeks to China in January of 2005. For 14 days, I’d be literally on the other side of the world, in a country where my cell phone wouldn’t work and email would be occasional at best. I began preparing for the trip two months in advance.

Find a trusted friend

My first job was to find a friend or relative who could take on the property management while I was away. He had to meet five criteria. First, he had to be someone I utterly trusted. I could not take a chance on someone who might misbehave and cause damage to my reputation. Second, he had to be a reliable person in all respects. Third, it had to be convenient for him to take on this additional responsibility. Fourth, he had to be at least as handy as I was (not asking a lot). Fifth, he had to be willing to do it.

Remember that there is a difference between trustworthiness and reliability. My stand-in property manager would have access to the business checkbook. A trustworthy person wouldn’t take off with the money in the account. A reliable person wouldn’t leave the checkbook where somebody else could take it.

My choice for my stand-in was my brother in law Will. I asked him with more than a month remaining before the trip so that if he couldn’t or wouldn’t do it, I would have time to find somebody else. Fortunately, he agreed. We also discussed compensation at that time. It’s important to resolve this question ahead of time. I didn’t want Will to do it as a pure favor, even if he would be willing to do so. We decided on a flat fee for the two weeks and an additional fee for any visit he had to make to the properties.

If your trusted friend refuses money, you need to find some other way to show your appreciation for the big favor he’s doing. Give his family a terrific thank-you present or make a donation to charity in his name.

Let everyone know what you’re doing

My second job was to let all of my important contacts – which included all of my tenants and regular contractors and utilities – know when I would be away. I wanted their routines to stay the same as much as possible, so I told them about Will, and that he would have my cell phone and email address. I asked the tenants as a favor to not bother Will with small complaints, but to leave those for me to resolve when I returned. And I took care of any current complaints before I left. I similarly cleared up any outstanding issues or unpaid bills with my contractors and utilities and made sure they had nothing scheduled for when I was away. I made sure the utilities, in particular, knew that any bills that came in while I was gone would not be paid until I returned.

Put together your “travel kit”

My last step before the trip, done as close to my departure date as possible, was to make sure Will had everything he needed while I was gone. I gave him a package including:

• A complete set of keys for all properties, including apartment keys.
• Keys and information on any post office boxes I use.
• Enough blank, signed checks so that he could pay any bills which must be paid on the spot; for example, for emergency repairs.
• A list of all of my tenants including their addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.
• A list of all my preferred contractors and their contact information.
• My cell phone, with charger.
• My email account address and password.
• My personal rules for contact by tenants; how often I check email and when I turn my cell phone on and off.
• A check to pay for his services.

Finally, I took him around the properties and pointed out trouble spots. We also discussed some of the procedures that might come up (for example, how to bleed air from hot water lines).

One thing to add to this list would be the rules that tenants must obey. That way, your trusted friend will know if someone’s doing something he shouldn’t. However, you don’t want your friend to have to be the enforcer. Just have him note the issues and let you know about them for later.

During and after your trip

Going to China, I really did not know when I’d be able to call back to the US or go on the Internet. Fortunately, this is a pretty rare situation. Most places where you might go on vacation, you’ll be able to connect semi-regularly. It’s clearly better to call than to email, since you can get answers right away.

Obviously there’s not much you can if you are thousands of miles away and a serious situation develops. But you might be able to give your friend some advice to help him resolve the problem, or at least make him feel better. And if the problem involves a specific complaint from a tenant, contact the tenant and let him know what you will be doing. Obviously such a problem demands your immediate attention when you get back.

When you do return home, meet your trusted friend as soon as possible to get your “travel kit” back and pay him any money he is still owed. And thank him profusely, of course. Then follow up on any situations that arose while you were away as soon as possible.