I had renters that would constantly be late on rent. They would push later and later every month and because I was busy I didn't notice the fuckers were only paying 11 months out of the year. I never raised rent on them, and it was a sweetheart deal.

When I found out what they were doing, I kicked them out and didn't shed a tear, that one month made the difference between breaking even and losing money.

If I ever buy property to rent again, I'm making it a business and hire a manager, unless it's my retirement plan. Renters are a headache, they always push the limits and cause damage one way or another. I used to be a renter, but now after being a landlord, I have no sympathy for people whimpering about "paying more" as a renter.

In most cases, renting can only be profitable when done on scale, and the landlord is providing a valuable service by caring for all the maintenance and finances. If a landlord "doesent need to do much maintenance" it's only because you don't see what he pours into a unit between renters, and you didn't see what extra he did when it was built to make it resilient.