<prompt> Human: I have been thinking alot about buying houses and renting them out. In the city I live in there are areas where I can buy a decent home for 12k-20k. I will have to do some work spending 5k to get the house ready. I have been working everyday for a while an have saved up around 10k, and around tax time I should get around 7k to go along with whatever I save the rest of the year. I plan on buying this house in a year. I have done some research. I plan to rent the home out for 600-700 a month, 150-200 will pay insurance. Leaving me 400-500 profit every month. Its not alot but if I let it build up and continue to save on my own in 2-3 years I could purchase a second home. Until the point where I work for myself. My question, is this a good idea? Are there better ways I can invest this money to get me regular income every month outside my job? That I can continue to build.  <response>: Your expectation might be a little bit high. You have to ask yourself who is going to pay you 700 a month to rent something that can be purchased for on a 30 year mortgage for 134 a month. Its possible, but pretty rare.When your doing your due diligence on a piece of property, you dont want to make best case scenario assumptions, you want to make worst case assumptions.I own real estate. Its a great investment. Its also a part time job. 