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I have several rental houses. I have nice albeit small homes, 1000sqft, 3 br 1 bath. Most have covered front porch and a back deck in good neighborhoods. My rents are about 20% or so lower than the market will sustain but I usually lease the first or second day I put it on the market. I could easily charge a few hundred dollars more each month but having a property vacant is not good and a few months vacancy can take years to make up in rent. Local property taxes take the first month and a half rent and insurance takes another month and a half, so my first three months of rent are not mine. Of course there is income tax on the rent which amounts to about $3000 a year between Federal State and Local. If I had to make payments on the house I would have zero profit unless I raised the rent and then it would be a close margin if there were any costs associated with the property I could lose money.

I was fortunate, I was able to pay cash for my houses but even paying cash is a cost. One benefit of paying cash is that inflation is eating up any cash reserves right now but housing valuse rises with inflation so your investment is safe. I received an offer on a house I paid $60,000 for 20 years ago, they guaranteed $160,000 and maybe more. I could not have made that much money in the stock market or in any kind of interest bearing account. Of course, I haven’t really made any money, it’s all inflation but at least I still have my money and have collected rent (interest) all this time. I have collected 4 times the original value of the house in rents and still have the house.

I have tried to show my renters how they could do the same thing I have done but they like their big car payments, their fancy IPhones and cable. They like their Starbucks on the way to work and ordering fast food delivery etc.

I like the income I collect although some years on some houses I’m lucky to break even. Bad renters can cost you a fortune. I fortunately don’t have many of those but it does happen. When a tenant loses a job or gets a divorce it can all go sour.

I like that I provide a service and get income from it and recommend that everybody who can to procure 10 or more houses to rent for retirement income. After you get two or three it gets easier to get the rest.

I suspect that the Federal government will try to make it more difficult for people like me, they will consider it unfair for me to own 10 houses and the people I rent to to own none, but for now it works.