Can be super lucrative, especially in lower cost college towns where the barrier to entry is lower. 

I highly recommend starting with a basic househack, easy barrier to entry and gives you a crash course in being a landlord who lives on site.

There are a few things that you can do to help protect your listing, this is not exactly an exhaustive list but just a few things: - You can install a ring doorbell so that you have video evidence of who is coming in and out of the house.

(That last one might qualify for what you are trying to do, but you're going to run into some underwriting barriers if you simultaneously increase the rate and payment without a very strong reason--and accessing cash for real estate investment is probably not going to be what they want to see, depending on the lender).2.

But you will never see the appreciation that truly builds wealth, because those low-barrier-to-entry properties will stay flat on the metric that matters: appreciation. 

You can generally achieve better bank leverage and has a lower barrier of entry.

Because of that low barrier to entry, plenty of investors from all over are looking at this city.

My returns are much much higher and the barrier to entry is much lower.

With 20 properties, you’d build a nice, diversified income stream over time.Why Choose It: Low entry barrier, easier to pivot if a deal goes sideways, and you can scale at your own pace.Challenges: It’s time-intensive—sourcing 20 good deals takes hustle, and managing scattered properties (even with a system) can feel like herding cats.

You can use Schlage, Operto, NoiseAware, and Ring Camera for monitoring and security. :)