My friend bought a rental property last year. Super excited. Kept calling it passive income. $2,000 a month rent. $1,600 mortgage payment. $400 cash flow he bragged about every week. I asked if he factored in property taxes. Oh yeah I got that covered he said. What about insurance. Yeah yeah included he said. Vacancy months when tenants leave. It won’t sit empty he said. Maintenance and repairs. It’s a new build he said. The AC went out in July. $4,800. Tenant left in September. Sat empty for 6 weeks. He called me in October. Said the property is actually costing him money right now. Said it’s just a rough first year. The $400 was never real. It was just the number that made the fear feel manageable enough to sign.