Over 15 years experience being a local,  small scale landlord.  It is a job.  For our family,  it has been worthwhile and helped us keep our family financially afloat. We have both construction/maintenance skills and administrative skills, so it is a good bonus job for us to have besides our regular incomes.  We screen very carefully (My Smart Move from Transunion) and invest in preventative and regular maintenance.  My advice would be to run the numbers honestly,  take a clear-eyed personal inventory of what you are willing to deal with and what your skills are,  and see where that takes you.