BlackRock - one the largest investment managers in the world does exactly that. After the crash they have started buying real estate at auctions in bulk, and r

BlackRock - one the largest investment managers in the world does exactly that. After the crash they have started buying real estate at auctions in bulk, and renting it out. It helps that they pay less than 1% in interest because they have super cheap financing arranged. The higher the yield, the greater the risk. In a traditionally safe real estate market like London yields are very low - 3-5%, where interest rates (on buy-to-let mortgages) are about 3-4% - you're not making much money assuming you'll also be paying at least 1% in management fees. Most landlords just about cover their mortgage interest with rental income, hoping for price appreciation. If you look at places just outside London, you can get higher yields of 8-10%. North of England or south of Spain or some less popular areas of US you can get 15-20%, but that comes with substantially higher risk of a crash in real estate prices. When in 2007 some areas of US dropped 50%, imagine how many years it would take to earn back 100% in rental income? You can buy a number of REITs that do this already, and have much cheaper financing than you have access to, and pay 15% dividends: https://www.valueforum.com/reits/high-yielding.mpl https://www.valueforum.com/reits/high-yielding.mpl Or you can just sell PUT options. In all cases you're getting yield for taking on risk (exposure to volatility in asset prices).