I would like to take a Poll here and find out how many Part-time LL's are posting here vs. Full-time LL's .

For the sake of this Poll, Full-time LLing will be defined as both spouses 'fully engaged' into the LLing business on a daily basis. 80% of your monthly income will come from rents and/or other LLing revenue sources (ie. selling rental property). The other 20% of your income may come from 401K's or the stock market.

Part-time has many definitions - one spouse is fully engaged in LLing and the other works a full-time day in another profession. Or both spouses work full time day jobs and do LLing only when a tenant calls them.

Ken,

NE,

Full time since 1996. But by your definition only part time.

Full time. I manage the money and the paperwork and wrangle new and departing renters. He either does or manages the repairs and upgrades, and contractors.

I'm extremely part-time. 2-3 hour per week, max. Spouse not involved at all. 50% of our household income came from rentals last year...projecting 60-65% this year.

Part-time by your definition, but fully engaged. I do substitute teach, though, just to keep myself looking good on paper in case I ever need to return to the W2 world. As time goes on, that becomes less and less likely, though, but I still like to pitch in and help out. Right now I'm covering a teacher on maternity leave, but between the weather and handyguy conflicts, most of my renovation projects are stalled and can spare me for a few weeks.

Okay, I need to give a better definition of Full-time here which will also explain my reason for even making this post.

When at least 80% of your total monthly income comes from rents AND (hypothetically) if all of your tenants did not pay any rent for February,...would you feel any financial pain or loss at all? (I would be a nervous wreck).

Many of the local M&P LL's in my town have tenants who have not paid rent in MONTHS but they (owner/LL) do not feel any financial PAIN over this. Why? Because one of the spouses has a 6 figure day job!

I'm technically retired. Full time LL since I was 58. And my wife is part time help with the LLing stuff. But around 75% of our income is from rents.

If our tenants stopped paying, we'd be hurting, but still floating. Since we are debt free and live conservatively, we don't require huge monthly income. But still, we'd be cutting back on unnecessary stuff.

The pain would be the same pain as having a 3-month vacancy, but with added insult, because it's not actually vacant.

The biz can survive a 3-month vacancy because I have x number of other houses to absorb the pain.

If I had 100% 3-month vacancy, I would seriously rethink what I'm doing. I'm in the rental biz because I wanted more control over our retirement fund than what we had with DH's IRA. I wanted something I could reach out and touch, that had physical value, and was something people needed on a daily basis. If it lost value, it was because of my poor decisions, not just numbers on paper that came in the mail every month.

We would continue to function as a household, because of DH's day job, and savings, and so on. The only thing a 3-month vacancy, or 100% 3-month vacancy, would affect would be our capacity to repair what we already possess (I have three roofs, a yard leak, a receiling-throughout currently in my lap), let alone our capacity to grow (currently in the midst of new windows, wood siding, and exterior paint for Project A, and a new kitchen and electric panel for Project B).

What I do is reclaim crummy houses in my little town, turn them into decent places to live, and rent them to people who make around $20-$25k/year.

I'm part time but that's due to my place in life. Full time for MANY years has allowed me to get to this point. I have bought, sold, saved, got my hands dirty, scrimped, etc. I did a lot of the actual work at the properties for many years. I now do very little actual physical work. I have always had another side business or two (sometimes earning a lot of money) but have been consistent with real estate for about 45 years.

For several reasons the past few years I made the decision to sell my multi units (other than my 'favorite' building) in favor of single family properties. They were purchased for long term appreciation. That appreciation arrived earlier this year, many years sooner than I thought it would. I sold quite a bit this year. I am now antsy as to what to do as I won't pay the high prices (although they have dropped) that are still being gotten here.

Part time. I do the minimum that I need to and can do. I hire others for jobs I can't or don't want to do.

YES

I have been known to put in 50 hours in a week

I have also been known to put in 10 hours a different week.

If I am doing something that I love, I am not sure if that really work at all. Then again, I a, fortunate to be that situation at this point. Once I was doing it all. Now I eye up task so much differently.

Full time. Wife was able to leave her job 6 years ago from the hospital . However when Covid hit she called and asked if they needed any help, so she went back to care for Covid patients. Once Covid clears out, she will leave again, which they understood before she went back.

Ah, yes, if I had a loan payment or a mortgage payment, that would totally multiply my stress levels.

DH currently has his main job, and his side job, separate from the rentals.

We live off the paycheck from his main job, with some to spare. Everything he earns in his side job goes either straight to savings, or to buying the latest house in need of love. Then the actual renovations proceed at the pace of my cash... it's slow, and we lose a lot of money in lost rent, plus however many months or years' worth of yard maintenance and property taxes until we get to that project in the queue... but ultimately, it's easier to pay the tax man and the yard guy than it is to bring the banker into the equation.

Altho we are a couple, we keep our finances somewhat separate. So, I am full time, fully engaged. 100% of my income is from the rentals.

Hubby is part time on the rentals: weekends and most of his vacations on larger property projects. He also has a full time job that requires overtime; he works until the job is done which almost alway involves overtime.

We both make about the same amount of money. I sometimes need to hire some people to do his part-time job on the properties to give him a break, altho he'd rather be working.

Once he retires, any day, week or month now, lol, he'll be full time, taking over some of my workload, as I easily put in more than a 40 hour week depending what is going on and I'm always learning on the job.

Part-time. Avg about 4 or 5 hours a week and that is exactly how I want it. Now, I have only two B+ SFH in very good condition. Spouse is not involved. She has her own business that she loves.

Part time generally (10 - 15 hours per week) and also reached 6 years of "Freedom" that Brad talks about. I have three multis (15 units) and am mortgage free so I'm in a pretty good situation. I enjoy interacting with (most) tenants and also enjoy the handyman part of the business. There are a few weeks a year I will work full time but this is by choice and not necessity (e.g., remodeling a bathroom or kitchen). The bigger jobs (roofing, pointing, electrical, HVAC / major plumbing) and lawncare I farm out to one of my guys I have used for many years.

My wife and 18 son are not involved in the rental business. I could handle a couple of units vacant for several months without much worry.

My parents had rentals which is what got me interested in becoming a LL.

I've been LLing part time since 1974 when I bought my first triple decker. We lived in one unit & rehabbed that then moved to another & finally the 3rd unit rehabbing as we lived in them. While still living there we started buying & rehabbing properties to rent out. We've always used buying & renovating rentals as a way to fill in the gaps in my GCing schedule. Some years I am definitely a full time LL but overall I consider myself to be a part timer.

The only one of our kids who is even remotely interested in becoming a LL lives in Switzerland so I don't think that she would be interested in being a long distant LL. I guess when I get tired of dealing with tenants, I'll pass all of our properties along to someone who appreciates just how profitable they can be.

My income is from rentals.

100%vacancy for month wouldn't hurt. I'm prepared to wait for a good tenant, so I'll have a vacancy for 3 months sometimes, esp w the way ny is now. All tenants no rent 3 months would hurt. You could similarly ask how much of a capital hit can you take. I had 9k one year unexpected when 2 heating systems had to be replaced. Early in I put 15 k into rebuilding the foundation on my 4 family. Typically plan for 4 to 5k of unexpected expenses a year and was putting 3 to 6 into updating units.

As I have updated most units I have more time

Which I put into community service being on the board of the library and starting a community organization.

Full time-- wife also-- 1 son also. Since 2001 when I took a leave of absence from my full time real job working on air machines (planes not AC stuff) When the 5 yr leave of absence was over I slid right into retirement.

Having mechanical ability has made this my life DREAM JOB.

I am full time for the past 6 years and the wife handles the accounting and still works part time on W2.

We are near the 80% mark.

We are debt free, kids are off the payroll, and do not spend much. Loosing rental income for a month would be uncomfortable, but, OK.

If we lost rental income for 3 months, we would have to take a serious look at our business.

Our goal is to live off the rental income and not tap into other retirement accounts.

There was a speaker at one of the Conventions that said 30 units was the perfect number from a management and income standpoint for him.

I guess it does depend on what average rents are in your area but that number works for us too.

We *just* re-started work on #35, and it will probably be a year before that is done - it's a hobby project at this point. So 34 in service and really, that's plenty. We still look around, but are no longer interested in the stuff we used to buy, the stuff NE is probably still looking for. We are getting old.

WMH,

John Schaub was the one who said 30 units was perfect from both a cash flow and management time perspective. To be clear, he also said "paid off". If we consider the average rent to be around $1200/month and setting aside 35% of that for expenses, that would yield the following monthly income:

30 units * $1200 * 65% = $23,400.

I think most of us could manage quite well on $280,000 a year.

11 units (sold 4 last week) - part time but still feel pain when tenants don't pay.

Sid,

I am not as humble as you think I am. I am about as humble as Donald Trump is. I am just not as arrogant as he is.

Sid, thanks for remembering. And yes, it WAS 30 paid off units. Which we have. We have a quad with about $100k left on it, but no reason to pay off because payment is so low compared to income.

WMH NC 30 is the point of decision. enough to make you comfortable. 60 is enough to make you VERY comfortable-- have a full time manager/collection person-- full time MM and allows for specialist to be called in when needed.

There is a point where its enough but not enough.

WMH,

For the last 10 years, I have hired out most of my rehab work. I have a great crew too! Electrician, plumber, handyman, grunt workers, all at my beckon call. When I hire the right people, they can finish one my rehabs in 6 weeks or less.