This -1000x. Get a property manager. Mine takes 8% and does everything. I enjoy a monthly direct deposit. Every once in a while something breaks (just got a new oven), I send them a check, they do everything.
8% off the top depending on your particular scenario could get you pretty close to the same net returns at the end of the day. If you went with a few REITs, management would take maybe a few hours a month even for a massive portfolio. This also has the benefit of being much more diversified than a single investor directly owning various properties could possibly manage.
Granted, using REITs is a tradeoff in granularity of asset allocation and potential upside, so there is always that zone of opportunity to exploit. It just takes a delicate evaluation of the value of your time vs the opportunity itself relative to other competing strategies.
Because REITs don't allow you to invest in one house via improvements at your discretion.
At least in the Bay Area, buying a somewhat run-down / older property, renting it out for a number of years, then renovating/upgrading it right before you sell has been a very profitable strategy for homeowners who have some project management skill.
Los Angeles (where we were) is a bit more volatile (ie it actually goes down now and then). If I had bought property in the Bay Area in, say, 1999-2000, I’m quite certain I’d be more willing to put up with tenant bullshit in exchange for nearly endless appreciation.
YMMV!
8% is not bad if the goal is income properties. However I would invest in a multi unit property if I were going to be a landlord again. Less concern about one bad tenant potentially leading to foreclosure if you get crunched from all sides. (Which seems to be how it usually happens)