Build the systems, tenant screening process, and contractor relationships that let you run a large rental portfolio in your spare time.
Based on: If You Spend More Than 8 Hours/Week on Rentals, Watch This. by BiggerPockets
What if managing 150 rental units took less time than a part-time job? That question probably sounds impossible right now, especially if you're already drowning in maintenance calls, tenant issues, and leasing headaches with just a handful of properties. You tell yourself things will get easier once you grow, but deep down you're not sure how scaling up could possibly mean less work, not more.
Here's the problem most landlords face: they're running their portfolio the way a handyman runs their day, reactive, manual, and completely dependent on their own two hands. Every maintenance request pulls you away from your family. Every tenant screening feels like a gamble. Every new unit you add just adds more chaos to an already messy system. If this sounds familiar, you're not broken, you just don't have the right framework yet.
Now picture this: your phone buzzes with a maintenance request, you forward one email, and it's handled. A unit goes vacant and you already know exactly how to write the ad, run the showing, screen applicants, and sign a lease, because you've done it the same way every single time. You clock out of your rental business by lunch and still have time to be present for the people you care about most. That's not a fantasy. That's exactly what Matt, the Lumberjack Landlord featured on the BiggerPockets podcast, built for himself while working a full-time career in tech.
Matt lost everything in the dot-com crash, rebuilt from scratch through nine house hacks over 13 years, and quietly scaled to over 150 units across 52 to 55 small multifamily buildings in New Hampshire. He retired in his 40s, self-manages his entire portfolio with just his wife, and spends roughly six to eight hours a week on the whole operation. He didn't do it with a big team or expensive software. He did it with templated systems, a small group of reliable contractors, a no-application-fee tenant screening process that generates 250 to 300 percent more applicant traffic than competing listings, and a ruthless focus on only the top three tasks that actually matter each day.
This PDF checklist captures every actionable step from Matt's playbook in one place. Follow it and you'll know exactly how to templatize your units and operations, build a contractor network you can manage by forwarding a single email, screen tenants without wasting anyone's time or money, and manage your time so the portfolio works around your life, not the other way around. Stop trading hours for units. Start building the system that runs itself.
Every checklist item comes with actionable notes to guide you — things like "Don't forget to do this before you start," "Avoid this common mistake," or "Set a reminder for 30 days out." Nothing vague, just clear next steps.
+ 23 more action items inside...
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