Purchased first units in 2016 and borrowed way too much. Spent many years taking phone calls, handling tenants, and managing repairs so I could write a check to the mortgage holder. All I could hear was "borrower is slave to the lender" every month.

A couple of years ago we got the rents high enough and saved enough to pay them off (early). What a sense of relief and freedom. Easier to make decisions on tenants when you do not have a sense of urgency to rent, better income for repairs, starting setting back money in CDs to use for us for repairs.

Later this year I will retire from my full time job and have steady rental income to supplement my retirement and keep me busy.

Like all of you, I could write a book on lessons learned but I have one takeaway from all of my lessons. Learn what you can do and hire out the rest. I don't have to be a plumber, electrician, HVAC, man, roofer, and renovator. I can save $100 on a service call and maybe fix it or make it worse or, one call, sit back in my chair, and pay them immediately. I would to be known as a good payer and I don't argue about their prices. (usually).

Spend your time keeping your tenants paying on time, raising rents, and managing costs.Your personal ROI is far better here.

God is good!

Welcome to the land of critical mass.

Thank you, David L, for sharing that and your one takeaway. Also congratulations.

"borrower is slave to the lender"

Yep. Here is another for you;

"A perfect score means you have mastered the art of paying forever"

I agree with 95%.

- You must know how to do some of your own repairs.

- You must take care of MOST of your customers

- You must take care of your Contractors

Where I don't absolutely agree with you: Like most tools, Debt is critical to know how to use. It is noble that you admit you have over done it before - most of us have. I don't view leverage as a good or bad thing; it's just a tool.

Leverage allows you scale faster instead trying to save up and pay cash. It is also an incredible hedge against inflation too. But with most tools you need to know your metrics. LTV of 50% or less and DSCR much greater than 1.2 are great benchmarks. Beyond that you need to come up with a debt system. I like debt ladders, but there are other methods and systems out there too

Word of caution.

I've always thought that landlords who have a mortgage on a place manage them better than those who don't.

When you have a mortgage on a place...you HAVE to make it work.

When you don't...you can get complacent. Turnovers...eh...I'll get to it soon...

Vacancy- I will work on filling it next month...

Rent's are under market...that's ok...I don't have a mortgage...

Good for you on achieving the goals you set out for yourself!

I still do too much of my own stuff. That is a goal for me. I want to do less hands on.

I also still have a lot of places mortgaged. I find myself able to do more this way. I have grown my business and taken care of must-do tasks easier because I am using other people's money.

Maybe I need to do a check and see if I actually do pocket more with less cashflow versus owning outright.