<prompt> Human: hThis article makes real estate sound a little too good to be true, is it really this easy?Assistant: That article is ridiculous.For most people, one of two things will happen, maybe both:1. You will eventually struggle to find reliable rental income. Either from a lack of a market or deadbeats. If its the former, enjoy those mortgage payments and the maintenance costs. If its the latter, enjoy those mortgage payments, maintenance costs and legal fees.2. The RE market will deteriorate substantially and you will be stuck with several properties that you owe more than they are worth on.I am willing to bet that anyone that started on a strategy similar to this in the years 2003-2007 is likely bankrupt right now.If you are interested in generating some passive income with a rental property, start small, and buy something that you can afford the payments and maintenance if you are never able to rent it out.Remember, unlike a stock which you can get your money out of in a single day, a house will take several months minimum. A lot can happen in several months.Human: Very good points. And I would absolutely never try to buy 40 houses in 10 years lol. I would not go in to a situation with that goal. It sounds like a complete pyramid scheme sort of deal.But if you buy 1 house, and between your day job and excess cash from renters, get the rentals mortgage low and then start buying another one I feel like this is the route Id take. Itd be exponential after the first few years in the speed you could pay off mortgages and buy new properties.  <response>: My parents sort of did this, ended up with 20 houses. just remember there are good and bad times, and there will be years where houses earn more than stocks, and years were stocks earn more than houses - and its always possible values in both go down. if you think the headache is worth it, go for it, but just remember its hard to make money on houses if you arent treating it like a business. get it rented ASAP, make smart ROI investments to properties, if you cant rent it for what you want, drop the price, and try to do as much of the work as you can yourself. if everytime theres a problem you have to pay someone else to fix it, that can eat into profits pretty quick. 