"Make Money While You Sleep". Hmmm, this might as well be the title of this blog, don't you think? Or, in the context of this blog, make money while you and the city sleeps. Sounds really tempting to say such. I mean, my friends and co-workers, typically say that I've got it all too easy and that I only wait until the end of the month and, presto, moolah! Well, yes and no, actually.
"Yes" because as in most other streams of passive income, income is derived from the service. And that's given by way of the shelter provided. And most of the time, since this is property rented out, there's hardly anything that needs to be done on a DAY-TO-DAY basis - in other words, no "daily operations" as what other businesss would have. What's passive income, anyway? Here's what Wikipedia has to say:
Passive income is a rent received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.
Some examples of passive income are:
- Repeated regular income, earned by a sales person, generated from the payment of a product or service that must be renewed on a regular basis, in order to continue receiving its benefits - also called residual income.
- Rental from property;
- Royalties from publishing a book or from licensing a patent or other form of intellectual property;
- Earnings from internet advertisement on your websites;
- Earnings from a business that does not require direct involvement from the owner or merchant;
- Dividend and interest income from owning securities, such as stocks and bonds, are usually referred to as portfolio income, which can be considered a form of passive income;
- Pensions.
So, from the examples given, passive income isn't just rent. We're all familiar with interest and dividend income. We practically don't do anything there. But rental property? Nope, and that's why I say "yes and no" to my friends - that I just wait for the end of the month for income to come in. There's a slew of activities that need to be done. There's contract management, property maintenance (biggie here), rent management, business licenses and permits, and actually, so much more!