Ditch the Toilets and Tenants: 3 Real Estate Plays That Don’t Involve Being a Landlord

In partnership with

Read The Daily Upside. Stay Ahead of the Markets. Invest Smarter.

Most financial news is full of noise. The Daily Upside delivers real insights—clear, concise, and free. No clickbait, no fear-mongering. Just expert analysis that helps you make smarter investing decisions.

Join 1M+ readers today.

Ditch the Toilets and Tenants: 3 Real Estate Plays That Don’t Involve Being a Landlord

You don’t need to fix leaky faucets or chase rent checks to build a real estate empire. There’s a new playbook—and it’s way more passive.

Old-School Investing Is Getting… Old

For years, the real estate formula looked like this:

🏠 Buy a rental
🔧 Fix it up
💸 Hope your tenants don’t call at 2 a.m.

But in 2025, investors are flipping the script. They’re ditching the landlord life for smarter, lower-effort strategies—the kind that still bring in cash without the constant headaches.

1. Private Money Lending: Be the Bank

Instead of flipping houses, why not fund the flippers?

That’s exactly what investors like Carl and Mindy Jensen are doing—lending capital to other real estate players for things like renovations, short-term flips, or ground-up developments.

💰 Returns: 10%–12%
🛠️ Work involved: basically none
📈 Risk: It’s not FDIC-insured, but if you vet your borrower well, the upside is real

You’re not the builder—you’re the backer.

2. Real Estate Syndications: Team Up, Go Big

Ever wanted to own a 100-unit apartment complex but didn’t have $10M lying around?

Syndications let you join forces with other investors and buy big properties together.

✅ A “syndicator” finds the deal and manages everything
✅ You put in cash and get quarterly passive income + profit splits
✅ You get tax perks, scale, and zero management duties

Tess Waresmith, a financial coach and investor, now gets a chunk of income from syndication deals she barely touches.

3. The Financial Independence Crowd Is All In

These plays aren’t just for rich investors.
They’re gaining traction among the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) crowd.

Why?
🧘 Less stress than owning properties outright
📈 More diversification
🏝️ More time to do literally anything else

But Be Smart: These Aren’t Set-It-and-Forget-It Forever

❌ You still need to vet operators and deals
❌ Returns aren’t guaranteed
❌ There’s less control compared to owning the property directly

But for many, the trade-off is worth it—especially if you want to grow your wealth without growing your to-do list.

The Bottom Line: Real Estate Doesn’t Have to Mean Real Work

You don’t need to be a landlord to make money in real estate.
📊 You can lend.
🤝 You can partner.
💸 You can build wealth—passively.

The only question is: Are you ready to stop swinging a hammer and start thinking like a bank?