Passive income now is NOT a get rich quick scam!

Do You Take Conspiracy Theories Seriously?

by MD on January 20, 2012

How seriously do you take conspiracy theories? How do conspiracy theories even tie into passive income?

One of my friends came to my birthday this year and we got into chatting after a few drinks (always a bad idea). This friend is a huge fan of conspiracy theories. He watches all of the videos that come out, reads all of the blogs, and stays updated on the newest conspiracy. He also collects silver coins, doesn’t have a bank account, and is predicting doom for the near future. I try to avoid these conversations. Luckily I avoided the conspiracy topic this year. Unfortunately, I overheard another buddy get into it with him about conspiracies. They went over the usual Obama stuff, taxes, saving money, and real estate collapse. I didn’t even bother chiming in.

What’s my take on conspiracy theories?

They are entertaining. I’ve watched a few of these conspiracy videos in the past because many of my friends recommended them. These theories are fun to learn more about. It’s important that you open your mind to both sides of every story. There’s a lot of information out there that just isn’t available to us. It’s important to embrace all side sides and understand why people feel a certain way. I don’t believe in ignoring or dismissing an opinion just because you don’t believe in it.

This brings me to my next point…

You can’t let conspiracy theories consume your life.

My friend doesn’t believe in a bank account because he doesn’t want the government to know what he does with his money. That’s an interesting way to look at things. My personal belief is that you shouldn’t live in fear. You especially shouldn’t let conspiracy theories consume your life to the point that every decision you make is determined by some video you found on YouTube.

The good news is that…

It does pay to be informed.

I’ve met a few individuals that are convinced that money is going to be worthless in the next few years. That may sound far fetched to you right now, because it is to me. These individuals feel informed. I can’t judge them because I’m a huge fan of the work of Tim Ferriss and other lifestyle design bloggers. To outsiders, lifestyle design itself feels likes a scam. To me, it’s a great way to live life.

However, after putting everything into consideration…

You need to take care of yourself.

You always have to take care of yourself. You can’t blame the government or some authority figure for your current situation. You can’t blame the decision makers in government for why you have no money. You need to do everything within your power to take care of your own income and savings.

Time to tie in passive income and conspiracy theories.

Passive income is a scam and a bit of conspiracy to some. Whenever I tell some stranger about this blog, they think I’m running a conspiracy of sorts. They just don’t believe in the idea of passive income. They think it’s a scam.

For me, passive income is a way of generating money more than once from work that I only do once. Not a scam if you asked me.

At the end of the day, there’s nothing wrong with being entertained with the occasional conspiracy theory. You just can’t let them consume your life.

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You’ve come a long way by now. You have the rental property. You found the right tenant. Now you need to maintain this source of passive income. It’s time to maintain the rental property and make sure that everything runs smoothly.

Let’s assume that you choose to do all of the work yourself with managing your first rental property. I’m going to assume that you’re ready to be a landlord.

How does the process work now? How do you maintain the property once you have the rental property and source of passive income setup?

Figure out the payment situation.

How are the payments going to work? Will you collect all of the checks in advance? Will you do direct deposit? Perhaps, you’ll be super modern and use Paypal. I ended up collecting the checks in advance. The only problem with this method is that you have to actually go to the bank every single month. You can do a direct deposit or any other method. All that matters is that you figure out how you plan on collecting the monthly rent check from the tenant. Once you figure out the payment situation (as stated in your rental agreement) you can now know how you’re going to earn your income.

Leave contact information.

Leave your cell phone number and an emergency contact number with the tenant and the management company (if it’s a condo). Your tenant needs to be able to reach you at all times. If you’re going to be out of town then you need to leave a trusted friend’s information. The reason for this contact information is that someone needs to be there at all times for the tenant to deal with any issues that may arise. On that note…

Deal with all issues with the property as they come.

There will be problems that arise with your rental property. As the landlord, the onus is on you to deal with the problems. You should expect phone calls at the most random times of the day. You can have a trouble tenant that complains about the water not being hot enough at six in the morning. Then you can have a more respectful tenant that just breaks something by accident in the middle of the night. Expect your phone to ring at the most random times.

There’s no easy solution here. You just need to deal with the issues as they come. There will be plenty of different issues that can potentially come your way. Some issues will be within your grasp to resolve. Other issues could be a bit too complex. When an issue is too complex for you, you need to outsource it. Don’t know how to fix the toilet? Call a Plumber. It’s pretty simple. You just need to deal with all issues as they come.

Maintain a strong relationship with your tenants.

Renting out your property needs to be a mutually beneficial situation. Your earning money while the tenant has a place to stay. This relationship needs to be taken seriously. You’re giving them a place to sleep. They’re paying you their hard earned money to do so. There’s no need to be rude or disrespectful to each other. You both need each other. This is why I recommend doing whatever it takes to maintain a strong relationship. How you do this is common sense and up to you.

That’s what you need to do to maintain this source of passive income. Nobody said that relying on real estate for passive income would be easy. You’re going to have to invest some serious time and money into real estate income projects. The good news is that your first rental property will be an amazing learning experience. You can easily transfer over the skills and purchase more properties as you get more into real estate.

Check out the rest of the Landlord’s Starters Kit:

Do You Want to be a Landlord? Let’s Look at Every Cost Involved
Is Buying a Rental Property Passive Income?
How Do You Become a Landlord?
Should You Hire a Property Management Company?
How to Find a Tenant For Your Rental Property.

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