You have the capital to invest in income real estate.  Or perhaps you’ve already made that investment and want to start renting out property.  But consider this: have you asked yourself whether or not you’re actually ready to be a landlord?

Here are some of the inevitable, and all too often overlooked, challenges that go along with managing income properties:

Challenge #1: Time

Landlording is not a traditional 40-hour a week job.  You will need to be reachable and available to tenants 24 hours a day.  And sometimes, you will need to schedule blocks of time to take care of things like maintenance issues.

Challenge #2: Costs

The costs of owning investment go beyond the mortgage.  They include many other expenses, such as taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs, employee wages and legal costs.  If you have a tight cash supply, you may want to rethink getting into the landlording game.

Challenge #3: Problem tenants

At some point, you will more than likely have to deal with a tenant who doesn’t pay rent on time, trashes the property or bothers you about the smallest problems.  You may be tempted to lose your cool, but doing so won’t get you very far.  In fact, it will probably make things worse.

Challenge #4: Soft rental markets

Untenanted vacancies are reality of life for most landlords.  They can be made worse by difficult local economic conditions, the need for major upgrades and/or repairs . . . or just plain old bad luck.

Challenge #5: Legal issues

As a landlord, you are vulnerable to lawsuits over health, safety, environmental and/or discrimination issues.  You can also be a target for third party suits, as from neighbors who have suffered injury or damage at the hands of a tenant.