1 Don't wait until you're rich to buy that real estate, especially if you and your hubby are good with minor repairs, painting and, perhaps, landscape. While my wife and I pissed our saleries away on raising kids a coworker of mine did the smart thing, bought a home, got some equity and leveraged that into going to the Sheriff's auctions and buying houses that needed repair, doing every bit of those repairs that they could themselves. By being somewhat careful about what they boght, the rent they collected was much higher than the mortgage payments. They usually built up equity fast enough that they eventually got to the point where they could buy two or three houses a year. By ten years of this they were paper millionaires, by the time he retired from the Sheriff's Department at twenty they were actual multimillionaires. Of course doing that will really cut into your blogging time. There are some tricks that help a lot with their method, be choosey about the property you buy, get an early relationship with a bank, a real estate management company and a group of licensed contractors, electrical, plumbing, roofing and foundation. They're rich, I've got a bunch of grown kids that never call. Sigh. Shoulda sold the kids to the Arabs back when they would have brought something.