2026 Real Estate Poll: did you make good money (cash flow) while owning investments property? Or mainly when you sold?

[jazz4cash]

Location, Location, location is even more critical wrt rental property. Never done it myself but close up witness to several sibs and extended family including one pro landlord with >20 doors. Full spectrum of results.

 

[Sunnymar]

I found real estate to be a very good investment. I had 3 different apartment buildings, duplexes and triplexes. The tax advantage was great. Because we are approaching eighty, we no longer have any RE investments, we are simplifying our lives. That said, we managed our dupleses and triplexes and didn't find it burdensome. We bought in highly desirable areas, beach towns in Southern California, lots of young professionals. We didn't have great cash flow, that wasn't our goal, but appreciation was great. I know the California market is different than many other markets,

 

[equakesfan]

We purchased a fourplex in Silicon Valley in 2011 for $820k. We put $250k down and had a loan for about $570k. Almost immediately we were able to put an extra $1000 dollars per month towards the loan (and occasionally more). We did put $100k towards the loan when I got laid off and $100k with my inheritance. We also paid for remodeling a bathroom and re-piped the property with copper pipes (~$50k). We paid off the loan in 2020. Between 2011-2020, we didn't take any money out of the property (we generally reinvested the profits into the property). Since 2020 we've been taking the profits out of the property. In 2025 we made $63k profit before taxes.

We probably put about $500k in to the property and made ~$50k/year since 2020 and the property is worth between $1.6M and $2.0M (we will use $1.82M for simplicity). Ignoring inflation our $500k investment has returned $1.25M or ~$83k/yr or 16%.

Going forward we make ~3.5% on the value and ~12.6% on our investment. As long as inflation is less than 5% (it has rent control that limits rent increases to 5%), I think it remains a good investment. I expect it to continue increasing in value by about the inflation rate and rents to increase by the inflation rate. Similar to an inflation protected bond with more risk. That said, if we see a big price increase and a drop in the stock market, we may sell to invest into stocks.

 

[old medic]

Location, Location, location is even more critical wrt rental property.

Very true. The area we had the chance to buy in at 40 years ago is now about totally depressed.

 

[Backpacker]

We own 5 SFH rentals, definitely better to have more than one. We bought 4 of them in 2009 foreclosure meltdown. Paid cash for all 5 of them, so interest expense wasn't a factor. We don't make huge net but that is somewhat intentional, we have very long term renters, longest is 15 years, another approaching 10. Only had one slow payer, and they moved out of their own accord. RE is about of 3rd of our NW. Capital gains and depreciation recapture is the elephant in the room! I currently self manage, but I may hire one of our sons to manage them and die while holding them to skip out on gains tax.

 

[Letj]

I'm a small timer, but I collect 75K a year in rent and keep roughly 80% after expenses. Gave up my job at 45, about to hit 19 years unemployed.

Couldn't have done any of it without being a landlord.

Do you self manage and do the maintenance yourself?

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

Do you self manage and do the maintenance yourself?

Yes. Never hired a property management company.

And I'm certain I'm less handy than the average forum member. If something needs fixing I call somebody to fix it. On a rare occasion I can handle it.

Example: I have 3 tenants. In 2025 I had two repairs. One was a doorknob needing replacing. That's one of the few things I can handle. The other was an outdoor faucet that needed replacing. I checked it out and couldn't do it, so I went home and called a plumber.

Plumber was $135, doorknob I don't recall but say it was $30. Probably $165 for 2025 in repairs.

Perhaps I'm the world's luckiest landlord but I barely lift a finger and the money keeps rolling in year after year.

 

[Retired Expat]

I am about to start renting out a paid off property, but I have to pay for landscaping, a pool guy, and management fees, etc. I'm going to be making money, but I am pretty surprised at how little it will be when all is said and done. The cash flow itself looks good on paper, but after working on houses for many years, I'm anticipating $5,000 to $10,000 in surprise bills and repairs of this has been the pattern with a lot of properties I've worked on. What's your thought on investing in the real estate in general? What were your experiences?

Jose, you didn’t give us an option on both? I made good money on the rentals and then better money on the sales. well in all but one properties case….

 

[mcso]

As a child I would replace light bulbs , mow lawn and clean up after my father's renters moved out of were evicted. Because of this experience I am not a landlord. If you have good renters a landlord is a great position. The first bad renter/eviction you will question why you ever got into it.

 

[almost there]

Other (explain in comments)

I have good active cash flow.
Value has tripled since purchase in 2011.
Made retirement possible in 2013. Paid off with severance / same time.
401K / IRA and Roth IRA's have remained un touched to this day.

 

[Sunrise_Ray]

Own 10 properties. 3x in Capital Gains. 15.3% Net ROI per year. 18 years into it. Not giving them up. Need it for Tax Deductions besides good cash flow. All bought in cash. Hate the tax increase and insurance increases since need to pass them on to Tenants. Working full time also, so cannot sell until income goes down. But, even with OBBA taxes would be high without real estate. Depreciation is awesome.

We all calculate investment returns as a "% Net Return Before Taxes".

We talk about taxes as the 'marginal tax rate' and not "% Net Taxes of Total Income".

NOT too many measure that total tax paid in my way. Total Tax Paid / Total MAGI Income. In my case I am in single digits with W-2, Dual Income, Real Estate, Long Form.
Is this common with all of the Real Estate holders?

SRay

 

[gutterman]

I was cash flow positive, but I made more money in a Vanguard Index fund after I sold it and put the money there. I have a friend who has twenty rental town homes in a bad section of town and does very well. He collects rent himself on the 1st and fixes hardly anything.

 

[pdxgal]

IMHO, It's probably not a good idea to get into renting properties if you have to hire out the management and you can't do any maintenance and repairs on your own. I've been a landlord for close to 40 years. You have to buy the right properties in the right areas to be successful. I've enjoyed the cash flow and it's certainly helped build wealth, but like anything worthwhile, it does take some work once in a while. I also never considered purchasing a property that wouldn't produce positive cash flow from day one.

+1. Property can be classed A B or C. Class A is higher end, C is lower. Class C typically cash flows the best but can have more issues. My two rentals are both in areas that were a bit dicey when I bought but subsequently gentrified. Started as class C/B now probably B/A. OTOH when my DM had to move we rented out her house for a while. More upscale neighborhood. After expenses the cash flow was not great, and appreciation was Ok but not spectacular. Getting better ROI now that we sold it and invested in more liquid assets.

 

[pdxgal]

Yes. Never hired a property management company.

I did once during Covid, but they proved pretty useless. Forgot to send the yearly rental increase when it was due, and then refused to reimburse me the income lost due to their incompetence. They also weren’t timely with repairs, tenants were upset. So I fired them. It’s easy enough to collect rent and call service people when necessary. Doing leases can be more complicated if local laws are complex. I did get burned once thanks to Portland’s bureaucracy. YMMV.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

I made appx. 9% net per year on a rental house that I rehabbed, sheriff sale purchase (1979). Eight years latter sold the house for a 36% gain above my cost. The house was to be a flipper but 1980/81 was not the year to sell a home. So, I rented once to a LT tenant; 1989 the conditions were ripe for a sale.

 

[jw72]

Rental property has worked well for us because it provides steady passive income, along with tax benefits and long-term appreciation. Real estate has been in my family for generations—my grandparents, as well as my mother and her sister, owned single-family rentals and passed that knowledge on to me. My mom, now 90, still manages her properties herself.
I bought my first rental at 18 in Detroit for $5,000. It rented for $300 a month for a few years, and I eventually sold it on a land contract for $15,000—that was back in 1980. Today, we own several fully paid-off single-family homes in a Southern California beach town. Our rents are below market, and our tenants tend to stay long-term, with only a few repair calls each year.

 

[2cheap2eat]

I own 3 SFH, one cash flows nicely (due to 3.3% loan), one is breakeven, one loses $150/month. As a portfolio, they make 2-3% cash flow. For me, it’s an appreciation play.

I self-manage and can do some repairs myself. I enjoy being outside, but it’s always something when it comes to rentals (tenant issues, repairs, maintenance, HOA, prop taxes & insurance skyrocketing, etc).

I’m now considering selling prob next year when hopefully interest rates are lower. I’ll probably keep the cash flowing one.

 

[38Chevy454]

Owned a 4 plex converted house in an older lower income section of town. I certainly wouldn't have lived in the neighborhood. Did all my own maintenance and tenant relations. Positive cash flow after expenses, not by much, but avoided having to add money each month.
It was good for taxes, but it was also like a part time job. Maybe 10-20 hours/month, but still was required time.
I'm happy to be done with it and no desire to get back into rental real estate.

 

[Diogenes]

Just as we have an interminable debate on "investing for income" vs. investing for total return, so too, we can debate real estate vs. "paper assets". It would appear that by personality, or how folks were raised, or just their range of competence, some are predisposed to preferring "tangible assets" (real estate), while some prefer stocks/bonds/funds. There is no optimal wave, but there are more risky - on a personal level! - ways to go wrong....

I'd be very leery investing in real estate for the next few years. Rising inventories after historical lows on top of home price to median household income ratio getting into super bubble territory. Markets always find their equilibrium.

That's my concern too... not as a prospective landlord, but as a renter who might conceivably be interested in buying a house in which to live.

Location, Location, location is even more critical wrt rental property. Never done it myself but close up witness to several sibs and extended family including one pro landlord with >20 doors. Full spectrum of results.

Exactly! Landlording introduces idiosyncratic risk, which can be obviated in the stock market via index funds. Buying a house is necessarily an individual purchase, meaning potentially fantastic upside... or downside.

 

[SageForesight]

Slightly off topic but--- Second home, non-rental, ocean front. From a tax and operating cost standpoint it's not cheap. But as long as the property value continues to advance exceeding the cost of ownership, it feels like the property will have been "free" when it is finally sold.

 

[Koolau]

One of my issues with RE investing is that it can be so concentrated. IOW one property (or maybe half a dozen) can easily be 20% to 50% of your nest egg. And that can be worse than one to half a dozen stocks in terms of concentration. If anything goes wrong, your losses can be severe very quickly. Of course, using leverage offers the opportunity for great gains as well. In short, the risk is a lot higher (in theory) when you buy individual properties (rather than going through, perhaps, a syndicate or similar investment arrangement). Just thinking out loud here as I have only the one experience. Our experience was "acceptable" because it did what we wanted. It preserved a place for us in retirement while at least somewhat paying for itself as we waited. But at one point it was 20% of our nest egg! Heh, heh, what could possibly go wrong??

 

[YellowSubmarine]

One of my issues with RE investing is that it can be so concentrated. IOW one property (or maybe half a dozen) can easily be 20% to 50% of your nest egg. And that can be worse than one to half a dozen stocks in terms of concentration. If anything goes wrong, your losses can be severe very quickly. Of course, using leverage offers the opportunity for great gains as well. In short, the risk is a lot higher (in theory) when you buy individual properties (rather than going through, perhaps, a syndicate or similar investment arrangement). Just thinking out loud here as I have only the one experience. Our experience was "acceptable" because it did what we wanted. It preserved a place for us in retirement while at least somewhat paying for itself as we waited. But at one point it was 20% of our nest egg! Heh, heh, what could possibly go wrong??

So true; but that's where property REITs can fill the allocation/void. Simply collect your distribution and maybe some CG in the end. There's a very small premium to that approach and what a stress relief. Tempting as it might be, I would never do/perform property management in "RETIREMENT". I've been so tempted to do some flips in my neighborhoods; sleeping on it for a few days resolves the "drive" to act.

 

[SnowballCamper]

Since I paid off my house, I guess I'm my own landlord, and it's a pretty good deal. Like YellowSubmarine mentioned, I also see lots of "opportunities" come up on the market but haven't jumped yet. There are six units across the street all for sale by the same owner, but knowing that the nearly flat roof has been repaired a few times in the last five years, and the nearly $2M asking price. Just not for me.

 

[boont]

I wanted to retire early and when Social Security came around not have any of that income reduced, so I bought single family houses. Since it isn't income from wages, I can earn all the rental money I want. Appreciation in California is high so I'm building equity. One house is paid off. Real Estate is also a defense against inflation. I can just raise the rents. When the great recession hit they went down in value but the rents went up because a lot of home owners lost their homes and had to rent. I manage them myself but hire out difficult work. Refinanced everything at 2.7% & 2.8% and pulled out $150 grand for only $60 increase in payment. In California if you didn't buy real estate you really missed out, especially with Prop 13 mostly freezing property taxes with only small increasing allowed. What's not to like?