If you are not able to hire a property manager, pay them 10% on all rents collected, and make a profit, then I don't recommend holding that property as a rental.
This also overlooks commercial properties, which routinely return at a very decent profit with no management involved and very few issues, because the lessee undertakes to look after the property.
Essentially, if you buy and pray, you generally will get taken to the cleaners by the people with experience. But this is the same as any other industry.
The big benefit of property is the ability to use leverage to multiply returns. Few other asset classes will allow LTV ratios like property. Get the sums right and you can create a profitable asset and accrue significant capital gains, all the while mandated-inflation is eating away at your LTV ratio.
I've never heard of a property manager that charges more than 10%... When you add 1st month's rent plus 10%, the first year is higher than 10%, but that's about it.
What's the difference of using this service versus sending all my paperwork to a bookkeeper who uses Quickbooks, or a property management software like Buildium or Appfolio?
Firstly - "sending all my paperwork to a bookkeeper who uses Quickbooks". In many ways we provide a service that is similar to this. However our website is focused on property investors - so you dont require any additional programs (like Quickbooks). We have many features that are specific to property investors, like tracking valuations, insurance, loan contract information. i.e. it is not "just" an accounting solution - it is an entire single platform to manage your property investments.
In regards to Buildium or Appfolio - they are generally aimed more at large property investors, or property management groups. Whilst there is overlap in what we do - we feel we provider a easier and simplier experience. We've invested a lot of time into the UX of the entire process to have it as simple, quick and easy as possible.
If by rent-seeking, you mean: using resources to obtain an economic gain from others without reciprocating any benefits back to society through wealth creation.
Then real estate is not "rent-seeking".
Real estate owners take the burden of home ownership off the shoulders of renters. Renteres choose to rent because they have an economic incentive to do so. Instead of a buying a home cash, or putting down a deposit, a renter can use that money for investing in other activities, spending on themselves or their family, or save. Of course, there are many renters who cannot afford a down payment at all. For them, the landlord is playing an even more important role by letting them rent in areas where purchasing would be impossible.
I do agree that most tax incentives for investing should be abolished. But I disagree that real estate is less productive than other types of investing.
In general you're right it's unfair to say that real estate investment is always unproductive and rent-seeking. However for major cities like London with tight supply, the flows of real estate investment that followed QE and zero interest rates haven't been matched by appropriate levels of home building. As a result affordability and ownership levels have reached historic lows, and many more people are becoming 'unwilling' renters, only able to service the financing costs of real estate investors. At this stage it becomes rent-seeking and unproductive, in my view, and there ought to be appropriate policy responses from government.
Hard work is the coolest thing in the world, and money shows that you are capable of actually accomplishing things. Another great thing about money is that you can put it towards nearly infinite good uses.
Have you thought about letting photographers advertise their services? If some of your customers are amateur, or just need nice cameras for a party, they might be willing to pay for the services of a photographer.
