[hijack ahead]
Holly, I admire those who can do what you are doing; dealing in real estate, landlording multiple properties… I’ve just found that for those who do it, even if the properties are relatively close, it’s their full-time job (and a 24/7 on call job at that).
Is this true of you? Or, do you have another job on top of it?
[/hijack]
Wrath:
Right now, I work 24/7 at my business, taking care of elderly folks in my home. My husband is my assistant for those times when I need help or a break. He spends most of his time, though, at the rental properties: we recently purchased a new one. Time is money, so the faster he gets it up and running, the sooner we’ll profit. The tenant is moving in this Friday. (Woo-hoo!) We’re already eyeballing another property that will need major work.
When not under a deadline like this, my husband spends much of his time maintaining and improving our properties. He really spends much more time than is absolutely necessary because he is a workaholic and is unhappy if he isn’t busting his buns eight or twelve hours every day. He refuses to ever take a day off. In the past, when he had a separate full-time job, he spent a couple of hours every day and full-time on weekends at the rentals. I think he has ADHD on top of his obsessive-compulsive disorder, so he’s the perfect landlord.
We have several pending projects at various properties: new fences, repair a porch, landscape a few yards, scrape and paint, etc. We like to keep our rentals in good condition (unlike many other landlords); the more work you put into it, the more profit you get. We do occasionally have emergency calls (a leak, an air conditioner on the blink, and recently, a tree fell across one tenant’s cable wire). These are few and far between, though, because we keep the rentals in good shape.
My jobs (as far as rentals go) mainly consist of major painting and lawn mowing. For me, this is a nice break from my usual work. I also make the final decisions on renovations- deciding what sort of flooring/ moldings/ cabinets to use, setting up the overall work schedule, etc. No, it’s not 24/7 (though we’re on call all the time- but like I said, problems are rare).
The main thing is we enjoy it immensely. We like to turn a shack in our neighborhood into a beautiful home. We love old houses. We love the fact that these properties will be a major income-producer in our retirement, and we intend to retire within five years. I’m thirty; my husband is thirty-two, so that ain’t bad. 
Since we’re okay with the fact that we cannot move away from this area (we currently live in our dream home, so I expect to die here), there are no disadvantages to landlording to us. Yes, we have occasional tenants from hell- see my Pit thread- but overall we’re very pleased with this endeavor. Not everyone could or would want to do it, though.
Holly: Let me know if you ever do an IPO for a REIT. (Just open up a thread. I’ll keep an eyeball peeled.)