"It's not free money because it's more time consuming than the stock market!" It's free money in the sense that you are getting paid for having had the money t

"It's not free money because it's more time consuming than the stock market!" It's free money in the sense that you are getting paid for having had the money to buy the property. Your wife might be putting in the time, but she is not more expert than 90% of people who could live there and maintain the property just as well (assuming they didn't have to pay you rent and the police didn't come to enforce your "property rights"). And yes, that means the stock market is also free money.