[nerdponx]

Being a halfway decent landlord is a miserable pain in the ass unless you live or work very close to your rental property. And even then, it's pretty easy to see several months income go up in smoke with even a modest renovation or repair.

The income is nice, but it's anything but "passive" unless your rents are so high that you can afford to pay a management company, and/or you are comfortable being a slumlord.

[ianai]

Yes and I’ve heard mostly complaints about management companies. All the classic principal/agent problems with the costs of bringing more people into the situation.

Edit-added “more people”