Long term landlord approaching retirement looking to maximize income

[William Bohan]

Appreciate any advice... I was fortunate to pick up a great property in Leucadia, California in 2001 which will be worth about 5M after I complete ADU's on property. NOI will be great on this property at 16.5K with only 700K mortgage now. I realize that's a lot of equity to be sitting there so my question is what would be best move to try to increase income now. I've always managed my own properties but am beginning to open my eyes to the fact it may be better to have it professionally managed and focus on my investments more.

Thinking about 1031 option and buying more income producing properties possibly in other parts of the country.    Appreciate ideas on the wisdom of owning out of town like this.    If it is a good idea, what areas would you look at?       Daughter lives in Denver so I'm thinking about that area.     We don't have tons of cash outside of the equity and retirement accounts so 1031 would be most likely only option.        Thank you so much in advance!

Sean

[JD Martin]

When you say you're approaching retirement, how close are you? How much income do you need, and how much do you want?

It sounds like you stand to net (before taxes) about $4.3 million. You can get into a bunch of properties with that much money, but honestly unless you just really love RE I'd be pretty tempted to find a couple of decent dividend funds and just harvest the returns. You should be able to realize 3-5% pretty easily with that kind of money, so then it just comes down to how much work you want to do and how much income you need/want. 

I'm a big fan of RE but only as a means to an end. If you've already reached that end - ie if $4 million is enough principal to create residual income that you won't outlive - then I don't see any good reason to be buying out-of-town properties that then have to be managed properly to preserve your investment.