I walked into the large conference room and saw that it was completely empty aside from three lonely rows of chairs. Dave Matthews played on a loop as a timed slideshow flashed feel-good quotes on a projection screen. One of the slides listed the core values of Fortune Builders, the “education” wing of Than Merrill’s real estate empire.

When I talk to friends who don’t own rentals, or even when I speak to those on their own path to financial independence, Real Estate Investment (REI) is always a contentious topic. For those with a bad landlording experience in the past, or for those who have never investigated REI, there are a few common questions.

On this blog, I try to avoid clickbait-y headlines. In this case, I can’t think of another way to explain what I’m going to discuss today: real estate gurus are sociopaths.

Even if you are 100% certain that you will be managing a rental property yourself, it’s essential to budget for property management. I’ll explain why.

Note: This is a reworked version of a post previously made at Mr. Money Mustache. If you haven’t been there yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out.  It’s really the Mecca of the lifestyle we aspire to live.…