Does owning RE question your sanity?

[Andrew O.]

Good afternoon,

I was just curious how everyone handles the stress of owning rental properties?  Owning RE sucks.  I own and manage 20 units all on my own while working full time with a family.  This past year has been rough with maintenance issues and things breaking, and right when I start to think things are getting better, I have to replace 4 roofs (1 is just a carport), an AC unit gets stolen, and a racoon destroyed an attic.  From all the quotes I've gotten, that's going to cost around $45,500 and it all needs to be done asap.  I don't know how the average person could afford this.  I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for it all quite yet either.  I'm in RE for the long game, but I don't understand how people make money off of rental properties.  It is always one thing after another.

[Jonathan Greene]

You bought too much without the correct why. Read this again, "Owning RE sucks. I own and manage 20 units all on my own while working full time with a family." Why do you own 20 units and manage them all full-time? You probably are either not doing well at your real job, not doing well managing, or not doing well with your family, or unfortunately, all three. What's your why? If it's passive income, that's not landlording as you have found out.

Why not sell all of the properties if you hate it and bank the money and consider other real estate adjacent opportunities like syndications and take your family on a nice vacation?