Are there really that many folks that invest with rentals/real estate?

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Or is this board, and similar boards, just a bubble?

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I have pseudo-rental home. I purchased a house cheap in 2012 through HUD. Then I moved and bought a new house. However, the house was vastly undervalued allowing me to easily profit turning it into a rental. I had no real ambition of doing it, but it just worked out nicely.

Due to this, I have looked into purchasing another where I live. This one with the intent of being a true rental. Doing a lot of research and planning with a couple friends of mine as we look into partnering.

rental owners are very active on the internet. I know a few ppl who do it IRL. But most peopel dont

its riskier than people let on and its more work too.

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100% agree. I think the reason you see so many posts here is because the guys that like to do it (myself included) like to stay active in the rental game and also very actively invest. So we tend to post more than your avg joe just putting money into their 401k.

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you people also cause others to get interested as well

at what point does it essentially become a full time job?

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If you own enough and have enough income from it, can it be a job?

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Sure

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Or is this board, and similar boards, just a bubble?

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I don't see it as a bubble. There may be good times and bad times but if you are in a good market geographically, I think it will always be pretty solid. I am very new but done a lot in the last 2 years.

I have many rentals and can tell you with 100% certainty my rental houses demolish any return people are getting in the stock market.

One of them I use ONLY for short term rentals (Airbnb). I grossed $2,400 in December with it. I MIGHT have 50k in it.

Can it be a full time job? I know a guy in Birmingham who is in his late 20s and has 400 of them. You tell me...

I get the impression that the number of renters is steadily increasing. When I graduated college in 1989, most people planned on a lifetime career with the same company and most companies offered pension plans. As a result, most of the new engineers I started with bought houses after renting a couple of years. Fast forward to today, I don't know anyone where I work in their 20's or early 30's that have bought a house. They don't have the same mind set. That is why in metropolitan areas you see so many lofts and higher end apartment complexes. On the opposite end, when I graduated from college it was more difficult to get credit. Now a lot of lower to middle income people have maxed out credit cards and will never be able to save enough money for a down payment. That population continues to grow and they will probably be life long renters.

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I know a guy in Birmingham who is in his late 20s and has 400 of them.

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Jesus...did this guy come from money or a family in real estate? And are these all houses - or do you include an apartment complex which may have 100+ units?

I said I wanted to do it for like 5 years before I jumped in and finally pulled the trigger. As soon as I did it, put money down and got a loan, I said to myself, what the F am I doing? I followed some suggestions on here, did lots of research (area, rental rates in the exact complex), etc. I narrowed it down to a place that was move in ready so I was able to recover some of my upfront costs immediately by getting it rented 1.5 months before first payment was due. I then bought another 6 months later and repeated the same steps including asking myself what the F I was doing. It took a little while longer to rent the second one due to it needing some repairs and painting but it worked out. 8 months after that one, I got another one and repeated all the steps again. I'm doing this for payoff in the long term. I'm "making" money each month but am not spending it (either saving it or paying off mortgage debt). I focused on places that I would live in and have low HOA dues. They are all in good areas and command good rents. It's not the exact template to follow but I wouldn't have bought anything if I followed everything to a T. Here is a breakdown of them:

Townhouse #1 - bought for $142,500 in May 2015. $1200 rent (can likely get 1350 or 1400 now). They are selling for 180k now. Put 25% down and have 4.25% rate.

Townhouse #2 - bought for $231,500 in December 2015. Get $1895 in rent. Similar unit just sold for $290k. Put 25% down at 4.5%.

Townhouse #3 - bought for $198k in August 2016. Get $1700 in rent. Units sell for $205k now. Not as excited about this one but it rents easy and is in a great location. Put 20% down and have 4.5 rate.

I think with all three I've had one leak and disposal issue. I drop off the air filters every few months to keep an eye on things and get the tenants to meet the repair people after I've approved any work. It's definitkey not the 1% rule but it works for me since I'm not relying on them for any income at this time. I would research and feel comfortable with the area and tell yourself you have to try it and you may lose money. You won't know though until you do it. I hope to keep mine for at least 3 years and maybe sell all 3 to buy a beach house or keep them and just cash them in for a good chunk of change in like 10 years.

Between principal paydowns and unrealized price appreciation, I've added to my net worth by ~$100k on these alone in about 1.5 years.

That is what is crazy. When he was 16 he asked his parents to take one of the local guru real estate courses and took off from there. His parents did give him like 25k to start with if I remember correctly.

Dude is a machine and has a whole team of people working for him.