Having Real Estate As A Hobby Is Ok Too

Trevor Contreras
3 min readFeb 4, 2017

Many times in real estate we often hear of all of the crazy success stories about how the average man or woman risked it all and invested in real estate. And while there was a big reward to their risk, we hear the stories and think, “If that’s what real estate is about, then it just isn’t for me.” Which is actually a little bit sad. This is because that while real estate can be an avenue for major success, it doesn’t mean that every individual who invests in real estate needs to risk it all or have a go big or go home type of attitude. In fact, real estate can be used simply as a hobby to help bring in a little extra income on the side. While most real estate gurus would gasp at this, there are several of us who have a well-paying job already, and just want something to invest in as a nest egg for the future. And real estate is a perfect way to do this.

So, how do you know if real estate can be for you without having to go crazy with it? Well, for starters you know that if you have a good paying job and you’re happy and at, it doesn’t mean you have to drop that job and become an entrepreneur in real estate. You may not be an entrepreneur, and that’s okay. Not everyone who invests in real estate has to be an entrepreneur. In fact, the majority of investors in real estate aren’t entrepreneurs. Most of them actually have other jobs outside of real estate. Granted you may not hear about it as often, but a majority of the market is made up of those who just have one or two properties on the side. This is actually the norm, and entrepreneurs in real estate are typically the exception.

Often times, when investing in real estate as a hobby you won’t typically go for multi-family units. However, this does not mean that you can’t. In fact, a duplex would be considered a multi family unit, and is a great stepping-stone from a single-family home into something that can bring in a little extra cash flow without adding a ton of extra work. Multi-family homes can actually be a very viable option, even one viewing real estate as more of a hobby. Plus with tools like multifamily leasing technology, it helps make the process even more simplified. All you have to do is put in a little extra work when it comes to looking for tenants.

Another thing to keep in mind when investing in real estate as more of a hobby is that you may end up doing quite a bit of work yourself. While most entrepreneurs in real estate will have property managers to help them manage their vast amounts of units, you may not necessarily have the luxury of hiring a property manager. So, you may need to commit some of your weeknights and weekends to working on your rental properties, and making the proper fixes. You’ll also want to make sure that you have a good relationship with some service repairmen and contractors. That way if a serious problem were to arise and you couldn’t fix it yourself. You have people on standby that could.

In conclusion, real estate investing doesn’t have to be hard. It will require some work and effort, as well as an understanding of cash flow and how to manage your money. Plus, you’ll need to know how to deal with tenants and how to properly manage your properties. But, in the grand scheme of things these are pretty simple tasks in comparison to the benefits you can reap from having a few properties on the side. Just make sure you’re doing your research, and don’t be afraid to reach out to those around you who are more serious investors. They can help you build on what you have, so you have a nice little nest egg to dip into during your retirement years.

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