Maintenance is an important area, particularly if you're new in the business. This is an area where I see a lot of mistakes being made by investors.

I spend a lot of our time in our property management business time coming in for new investors fixing or trying to overcome some of their maintenance issues and problems, particularly if they've done rehab. If they're new in the business, maybe the contractor takes advantage of them and overcharges them or doesn't do enough or too much. We see this all the time.

One of the things you're going to be faced with right out of the box is whether you want to do the maintenance yourself - if you've got the skill set to do that - or do you want to outsource it to contractors. That's something you have to decide early on as to whether it makes sense for you to do that. If you've got the skills to do it, that's great, but at the same token part of real estate investing is to make it an investment, not a job.

If you're out there fixing the toilet at 11:00 at night that's become a job not an investment. You could be paying a plumber or someone else to do the work and you could be relaxing and enjoying your evening. It's a lifestyle choice. However, make sure if you're going to do it yourself you've got the skill set to do it.

If you are going to outsource it, I've got a few simple things here to watch out for. Always check references before you hire a contractor. Always get references from somebody else that has used that person. It will help you a lot.

There are ways to get references you can use something called Angie's List. AngiesList.com is a service that you pay for and it's not expensive. It's around $15 a month. Anybody who's on there contractor-wise gets rated. It's almost like on eBay or anywhere else.

Anybody who has used that contractor can leave comments. Obviously you can see what some of the comments are and that's one way to ensure that the contractor is good.

You can use Craigslist, but be careful. Craigslist is kind of the Wild West. Make sure that you're being careful and call your references before you use Craigslist.