Compared to single-family homes, you can build wealth with investment property with less searching time. Even in high-cost areas, a $5 million or $10 million home portfolio would (or at least should) include at least 15 to 20 properties. In lower priced areas, a portfolio of this amount could include 50 properties. Purchasing that many homes would require several thousand hours of home finding, home viewing, neighborhood surveys, negotiating purchase contracts, and applying for loans. With income properties, you can work with a portfolio of up to $5 million or $10 million with as few as four to eight acquisitions. Even if each offer takes three to four times longer to complete than a single-family home purchase, you still save time searching.

As you progress to a property portfolio of $20 million, $30 million, or $50 million (if you plan to get that rich), a comparable sum devoted to single-family homes would prove impossible to acquire and manage. If you want a life (not a job), investment property provides more return for every hour spent buying and negotiating property. If you own 15 or 20 houses, you have 15 or 20 roofs, electrical and plumbing systems, and gardens to oversee. If you own two or three investment properties, you reduce the number of components that will, at some point, need attention. Although an investment property may cost more per building to maintain, it costs less per unit, both in terms of money and time.

If you want, you can also own net lease investment properties. Net lease office buildings, shopping malls, and independent retail stores pass responsibility (to varying degrees, depending on the specific terms of the lease) for maintenance, repairs, property taxes, and insurance to renters. You can operate multi-family apartment buildings under a master lease (as well as for offices and shops). With a head lease, you are paid by a head tenant (tenant) and take responsibility for leasing individual units (spaces) and paying expenses. Alternatively, hire an on-site manager to handle daily concerns that arise. Compensate your on-site manager(s) with a nominal rent reduction amount. On-site individuals can perform some maintenance and repairs, address most tenant issues or concerns, and prepare and lease vacancies as they occur. To accumulate wealth avoid paying taxes. For investment property owners, the Internal Revenue Code offers a generous advantage. As you acquire larger and larger properties, the law allows you to accumulate your wealth tax-free through a Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange.