Adopting a new mindset for real estate investing.

One big change that's important to be successful as a new landlord is to adopt a new mindset once we move out of our home and make it our first rental property. Or even if that's not the case, we bought that first rental property, and it's our first one, and we're emotionally attached. Just remember it's not home sweet home, it's a business venture.

And I guess the first place where this really comes into play is, "What I need to do to get this home ready?" Remember, you're not moving in, this is a rental property, so our goal is clean and bright and good repair. We don't want to ask somebody to move in on someone else's dirt. But let's leave out the expensive extras and all the doting and decorating and our personality. We want this to appeal not so much to us, but to the widest possible audience that we can.

And then once we've placed a tenant in the home, let's face it, if that's where we used to live, every time we ride down the street and look, and they haven't mowed the grass as promptly as we would have, it's going to cause us some heartburn and some angst. But if we're concerned, overly concerned, and we can't get ourselves detached on this first property, we're never going to be able to move on to number two and number three and number eight, nine, and ten. It's a business. Let's be reasonable, let's step away, and let's remember, it's not home sweet home, it's our first business venture.