If you”ve read some of my earlier posts, you probably already know that I have a good amount of disdain (fear?) of any kind of debt. Even good debts can keep you shackled into a lifestyle you may not need or want. Cars can be re-possessed, houses can be foreclosed, and you can lose anything you owe money on, so it”s not really yours, now is it?
But here”s the rub, if I”m going to retire early like I plan to, I”m going to need as much income as I can muster. I”m currently happily chipping away at my student loan, and my 401k as well as my brokerage are growing fat and happy from reinvested dividends and capital gains. But you need a LOT of green to support even a meager lifestyle on dividends and interest alone. So it is that I”ve been exploring other options. Surveys and Helium as well as my freelance writing gig over at Nesteggr all help to pad my income, but I”m likely going to need another heavy hitter.
So..what about real estate?
Ideally, what I”d like to do is buy a duplex and rent out the other side. I know some are adamant about having their own house, but we really don”t need very much space to live comfortably (we”ve considered living on a boat or RV, so really even a duplex would seem HUGE). The problem I have is the headaches involved with getting tenants and the financial investment up-front. Maybe I”m too attached to liquidity after all.
So my question to you, readers, is this: What makes a good landlord from a bad one? I”ve read all sorts of stories about the pitfalls and glories of real estate. Some act like it”s the easiest job in the world and that the money rolls in on a silver platter. Yet others act like they are doomed to failure, buried under the cost of bad tenants, blown furnaces, and electrical maintenance. How can these be prevented (as far as one can really go, that is, obviously unexpected maintenance will happen)? What can be done to ensure a profitable rental property? I”ll post any findings that I come up with as my research continues!
-Xias