Steady streams of passive income represent the ultimate dream, right?
Of course, making such income a reality is much easier said than done. This is especially true in the case of passive income via property, which is often touted as the ultimate money-maker.
While there's certainly great potential in profiting through property, it's not as simple as purchasing a house and expecting the dough to start rolling in. Becoming a landlord may seem like a relatively straightforward process, but netting a positive ROI requires new landlords to accept some hard truths.
So, what do you need to accept to make your passive income goals more than a pipe dream?
Although you may be tempted to try to do everything yourself as a new landlord, sometimes it pays to have some extra help on deck.
Seriously. Especially if you're trying to rent out a property that's far beyond your own backyard, hiring a property management company might be your best bet if you find yourself overwhelmed or simply too busy to be the heavy lifting of being a landlord yourself.
Don't think of such a hire as a middleman, but rather an investment to keep your tenants in line and ensure that you're not losing out on potential income. Think of it this way: the more help you have, the more tenants and properties you can manage. On a similar note, it pays to have someone on deck to act as a sort of system of checks and balances to justify your property decisions.
When in doubt, it always pays to be tough on your tenants versus accept someone with a shady background or credit history. Although it may be tempting to welcome the first tenants who show up to rent, aggressively screening tenants will almost always help you prevent needless headaches down the road. If someone's unwilling to undergo a credit or background check or hesitates to hand over rental referrals, you have every right to be skeptical of their application.
On a similar note, you shouldn't tolerate tenants who consistently complain or don't respect your property. While some accidents and emergencies are inevitable, sometimes you may need to get confrontational with your tenants for the sake of your financial security. If you consider yourself to be timid, you'll have a tough time as a landlord.
If history has taught us anything, it's that the housing marketing can be incredibly volatile. There's no need to be paralyzed by fear when it comes to purchasing and renting out property, but bear in mind the dangers of potentially spread yourself thin. Expansion may seem like a no-brainer when money starts coming in; however, it pays to tread lightly and approach new properties with caution.
Those who understand the realities of being a landlord inevitably poise themselves for success versus those who have no idea what they're doing. By entering the field with realistic expectations, you can decide whether or not you have what it takes to pursue passive property income.
There are still many people who believe that all online businesses generate passive income; That you can mount anything on the Internet and that, once it is working, retire and dedicate yourself to live life.
Unfortunately this is not so. Most people who work online give you the same number of hours as the shoe shop owner in your neighborhood, or even more.
Do not obsess about finding a source of passive income at 100%. Instead, focus on finding / creating a source of income that is compatible with the lifestyle you want to lead and that does not make you unhappy. Never stop developing your core assets and whenever you can, you invest your time in creating scalable and automated systems that do the tasks for you instead of doing them directly. Everything else will come alone.