Fifteen years ago, my mom and dad decided to purchase some Residential Investment Property. It was one of the smartest moves they ever made. When they bought their first rental home, the market was very low. Now they rent that particular property for three times the mortgage payment. Since they purchased that first house, they have gotten three more and both were able to retire at the age of 55. Now they are traveling the world and loving life. They are rarely home so they have rented out their primary residence also and just stay with us when they are in town. My kids love it.

My mom and dad are in the process of revamping their retirement plan. The other day, mom called to ask me what the differences are between various types of annuities. I am the last person she needs to be asking as I am not very good with money and she knows this. They have bailed me out on more than one occasion. Yet, I offered to look up some of the types she reeled off. Now I am learning about joint and survivor annuities, pure and refund annuities and cash refund annuities as well as many other types. I think I am even more confused now than when I began. So far, Fixed Income Annuities look the best to me but I have much more to learn before making a final decision. 

When I was little and visited my grandparents, I was always intrigued by their coin collection. Collecting coins was a hobby that my grandparents happily did together. There collection included many American Gold Coins, including some very rare coins.  They would often quiz each other the history behind a particular coin and usually the other would get the answer correctly. It was quite impressive. They are older now and do not collect actively anymore, however, they are always eager to show visitors proudly their coin displays. They could easily sell the coins they have and make a hefty profit. They know that, but I do not think anything could make them sell those coins, they hold too many wonderful memories.

For those that are new to the rentals business, there’s good news.  You easily ease your property management burden by subscribing ton online software solutions that take care of a lot of the details for you.  When you first starting out, it might be a bit scary to know what accounting you need to maintain. For many beginners in the rental property business, this can be the most intimidating part, especially as they get close to preparing their taxes or need to prepare financial statements for their bank. Because there are rental property software options that are made specifically for these purposes, it is much easier for you to input the data and customize the reports you need, for whatever purposes.