I would start out small and see how it goes first, you don't want to start buying them up then realize you hate being a landlord. Personally I own 2 properties- one is a rental property, the other I live in and get rent from 2 others living with me. If you do it right, it can really jump the amount of return you get vs return from investing. With just these 3 rents, they pay for the properties and I live for free :) Also one of my properties has gone up $70k, I'm thinking if it makes it up to 100k over original sale price I will sell, buy another and invest the extra 100k. Some of this is luck (my other property's value is stagnant), but some is paying close attention to where is the next big area around you. Oh, and both of mine are condos, I find it much easier to maintain working my full time day job, while having the condo assoc. take care of things. Not everyone likes being a landlord though, as I said above. Also people do have bad experiences. IMO a lot of times the people who have bad experiences, didn't do things exactly as they should legally (didn't use a lease, let friends stay, etc). The MOST important thing you can do, is put a ton of effort into finding really good tenants. This will save you tons of grief. Use a broker to find renters- they're expensive but worth it, trust me.