On rentals...

We first became landlords when bought our first house and vacated a condo that was owned by my father-in-law.  It was the late 90s, or early 2000s.  We proposed buying the condo from him and paying for it with the rental income.  As the condo was located in a college town it was easy to rent. We wrote up an agreement and made payments to him over the next several years.  Eventually, around 2006 we moved away from the area (selling our primary residence and buying another) and found managing the rental over a distance to be too difficult.  We sold it, paid dad the principal we agreed upon, and used the proceeds towards a down payment on a rental home closer to our residence.  Over the years, whenever we had extra money, we paid down debt/mortgages.  We didn't buy toys or go on vacations.  It's always been our goal to be debt-free.

When my father-in-law passed away ten years ago we inherited his house.  That is how we ended up with a second rental.  

In 2009 we moved again, but we were unable to sell our primary residence for anything near what we paid for it.  We decided to rent it out and use retirement savings as a down payment toward a new primary residence (the McMansion).  That is how we ended up with our third rental.  We have rented out three houses since 2010.  Two of them we managed ourselves and we've used a property management company for the third.  

As I previously mentioned, the day we accepted an offer on our McMansion, we were notified that our tenant of four+ years was moving out of our third rental (former primary residence).  In an effort to simplify our complicated finances we put that house on the market and received an offer within a week.  The negotiations took a while, closing was set for August 31st, but it has been postponed due to repairs required by the buyer's lender.  I think we will close next month, but the deal has been fraught with many twists and turns.  We are selling for much less than what we paid for it, but we have collected rent for many years to make up the difference.

The tenants in the second rental have lived there for seven years.  We decided to offer them the opportunity to buy the house from us through the property management company.  I've been told they are excited to own and a contract has been written up.  I think that house too will close next month.

Soon we will be down to one rental and so much of my mental space will be free!  My taxes may be a bit cumbersome this year after selling three houses, but in future years greatly simplified.  I don't know what our next venture will be, but I am glad to take a break from managing these properties. In all honesty if it weren't for the rental income we would not have been able to afford our McMansion lifestyle.  Looking back it is troubling that we let our savings slip through our fingers.  These days we are much more conscious about our monthly and daily spending.  Our recent decisions to simplify and downsize have helped us buy our time back - for instance I no longer have to clean 4000 square feet, keep up landscaping, or drive two hours round-trip to my favorite grocery store.  When I shop I purchase less because there is not any room for it - I only buy what I can use in a relatively short time.

We've owned four houses for eight years.  During that time we also added two kids to our lives and I went back to school and graduated with my doctorate - debt free (paid for with graduate employment and out of pocket).  Soon we will only own one house, The Land, and the Hideout.  I can feel my blood pressure going down just thinking about it.