Level of Effort to Cashflow out of the Rat Race

[Marc Ferguson]

Hi there. I'm new to real estate investing so I'm doing a lot of reading, listening to podcasts, and checking the forums. I'd like to set proper expectations when it comes to getting out of the rat race. I plan to do a lot of creative financing so partnerships and other strategies will be something I toy with.

Question: How many properties will it take for me to get out of the rat race?

I know, it's a loaded question. Let me give some context. Let's say that my goal is to get $5,000 a month from rental properties in order to free myself from the rat race. I'm going to be conservative and expect an average of $200 in profit (after all expenses) from each property, maybe $100 profit if I'm doing a partnership. If I go with the average of that then I'm getting $150 income from each property, which means I'll need roughly 34 rental properties. 

The fact that I finally wrote out this thought shows me that there are a lot of factors and it's not so cut-and-dry. Is there a simple way to answer this question or do I simply take it one property at a time until I reach my goal? Thanks for any feedback.