http://www.livelearninvest.com/
+1. After reading the OP, this immediately sprang to mind. I've also read it for a few years, and have seen him develop it into a more serious business (move it out of his house into renting space, hiring people, etc.)
Definitely go back and read the history of that blog to learn a lot.
The thing is, it's a business. It's a job. It's not passive income. It's another way to
work.
When I was in college, my roommate and I make quite a bit of money (think: six figures ish in several months) doing an eBay business with essentially this premise. So I know how it is.
And that is why I'd disagree with this:
Seems similar to being a landlord in a few ways (hard work at a good income, if you do it right). Also sounds too good to be true.
Having done both, I can say that rental income isn't that much work. Landlording for an SFR takes maybe 1 hour per month on average (usually maybe 10 minutes per month median, then the mean is dragged up to an hour per month in the vacancy months where you spend 10 hours due to turnover, getting the unit rent ready and advertising and showing it). And it's a lot easier to outsoource (via property management company).
An import/export business (for lack of a better phrase) is a business, a job, that can be full or part time depending on how much you put into it, but vastly more work than rentals.
IMO, YMMV.