Passive income is defined as money you can make without putting in a lot of effort all day, every day. Is one source of passive income real estate? Sure, it is! So are stocks, bonds, interest, and even royalty payments. But real estate often has higher returns than many of the other sources of passive income.

Simply put, if you own a house and people are paying you rent, what you have remaining after your expenses is considered passive income. However, to make real estate passive income you do have to work at it. But once you’ve defined your goals, created a plan, run the numbers and gathered your team, the next time you purchase real estate with the goal of passive income it’ll be a lot easier.

Now, that’s not to say once you own real estate your work stops there – repairs, vacancies and other issues will arise. But the benefits can outweigh the work you have to put in – you just have to decide whether you can be an owner. How much passive income you generate almost always correlates to how much work you are willing to put in – no matter if it’s real estate or something else. Remember, it’s still not a 9-5 job and you’re the boss.

For your highest source of passive income real estate is where you should be. Conventional thinking is that if you put your money in the stock market for a long time your money will grow. You might see some dividends, but typically they are small and don’t produce high returns on your investment. The only way to realize gains is to sell your stock. With real estate passive income is your primary goal. Appreciation is an added benefit that you don’t have to bank on, like you do with stocks. The passive income you build through real estate is money that you can have access to right away; you don’t have to watch your stock’s movement everyday and wonder if you’ve made enough to sell.

If you’re new to the idea of building passive income real estate is something to consider. Download the Beginner’s Mini Guide, which shows you the first three steps to help you realize your goals.

The member portion of HowManyDoors is full of tools, checklists and how tos to help you build a real estate portfolio that will earn you passive income. We even offer properties for sale that aren’t on the Multiple Listing Service or through your local real estate agent. We have built a network of trusted professionals in areas of the country that we think have excellent potential to build passive income through real estate.