Jeffery was speaking at REIA of Oakland, Michigan tonight and that is not far from SW Ontario, so I drove down to hear him. I am very glad I did. He spoke at length, quite passionately and without notes. Yes Jeffery, I did indeed take notes as advised and I think you have renewed my interest in growing my rental business and systematising its operation. I think I am probably a level three landlord in that I have a variety of strategies for solving problems and have accumulated these ideas, but I have not systematised them and I do not have checklists as a level four landlord should. This is the first task when I get home. I will be opening up MS Excel and developing a series of checklists to routinise standard operating procedures and so reduce error rates and save time. Oddly enough I developed one checklist early on, I have one for processing lease signing and all the associated paperwork but I stopped there. There will be checklists going forward.

The next level five sees delegation. I have contracted out all the handyman work for years and have never looked back. We never did painting or things like that either. I have yet to try virtual assistants. Getting people to post online ads is a good idea. Having someone run credit checks and do phone calls around applications would be useful although some of that is very delicate and I really want to know the answers myself of the most serious candidates. But routine screening could be contracted out in the first instance.

The three star loyalty plan and then the VIP plan are both actionable items. Writing six months in advance of the lease anniversary to ask which retention gift they would prefer is a great way to get a signal as to what is going to happen. I would never have thought of this myself.

Customisation of rental homes was something I had never thought of before. Had it been posted here? If it had it never registered with me. From now on I am offering closet organizers and extra air conditioners, etc.

On the upside I have long offered move in gifts for tenants so that is Mr Landlord approved. I agree on screening for cooperation but I wish there was a better test for it in the screening process. I just accepted a tenant with a great credit score, solid government job, etc. and as soon as lease signing was done they started becoming quite uncooperative. I have regrets, particularly as I had other prospects whose credit was not quite as good but whose attitude was much more amenable. But the uncloaking of uncooperative nature only came after signing - there genuinely were no signs prior.

Ontario is not that far from Michigan, it was a two hour drive and an overnight stay to finally see Mr Landlord on his travels. I am very pleased that I made the trip. I learned a lot and I was re-energised by Jeffery's energy and commitment for landlording and also by his boundless sense of possibility. He sees solutions where others see problems. This was truly refreshing. Jeffery, thanks for taking the time to travel and to speak this evening I am sure that there were many others who like me were inspired by what you had to say and who learned a great deal. I have some work to do now but it is good work and it will help me grow my business. Thank you and safe travels on your way home.

Thanks Stephen for coming up to me at the meeting and introducing yourself and for your kind words. One of the biggest perks of speaking in cities across the country is the opportunity to personally meet so many of those who contribute on this site. It's so great to connect Q&A names to actual individuals. I'm glad I was able to make your two hour trip worth it to you.

I too attended Jeffrey's recent presentation at our local REIA in Madison Heights, MI and we purchased his program and binders filled with information. I’m embarrassed to say my husband and I paid $14,000 to another company to learn about property investing and flipping.

While I believe we got some good training, it was nothing as practical and immediately applicable as Mr. Landlord has given me. I was riveted to every word on the DVD’s. We just bought a number of rentals and Jeffrey has given us the foundation for developing and running a fun and successful business. Thank you sooooo much! Maria