My letter shows up and and on the surface it's a low hassle ticket out. 

People think that the Markets always go up, but, this is going to be the biggest drag on the prices of everything for the next 20 years as all these Boomers draw out their Money from Stocks, 401K's, Mutual Funds and IRA's and there is less Demand for big ticket items.

Also if a tenant calls for a maintenance ticket, but there is nothing wrong (tenant did not believe the A/C was cooling properly), then that is a tenant bill if the A/C system is operating within manufacture Specifications.2. 

Should I buy lottery tickets with the money instead?

Passive income seems to be the ticket, and rental income is the vehicle I'd like to use.For the longest time I was afraid of wading into the waters of REI (since I didn't understand it), but thanks the all the great information I've read on this site, I've decided that I'm ready to take the plunge.My ultimate goal is build a portfolio of rental properties, though I'm finding that the cost of real estate in the immediate DC area is pretty steep for me.

So now we kill two-birds with 1 plane ticket...Property Management was important though, my first PM was horrible and almost ruined the experience.

Basically, we are seen as a "Flight to Safety" City, stabilizing any weakness that we see in other Cities in our Country (UK and US, that is).

When you're a 2.5 hour flight away from the property, how do you do that?

The house with a view also has a pool table and hot tub, but that's standard for the area.I'm not providing anything consumable like gift baskets or event tickets or anything like that.

Curious, how long these bigger ticket items (furniture, appliances) are lasting for everyone.