I was a real estate lawyer in CA for nearly 40 years, a real estate broker, in CA, for most of that time. I was CEO of a real estate investment organization that owned, developed, lent, invested in, etc. all sorts of real estate, and owned a foreclosure trustee for many years. I've represented hundreds of real estate owners, buyers, sellers, lenders, builders, victims, etc. and was one of the attorneys involved in The World's Hardest Real Estate Transaction (TM) 35 years ago. I built a fortune in real estate, and still have some of it.
I decided some years ago to get out of real estate. It took some years to do so, but other than my house, I no longer own any.
I came to this decision slowly, over many years. The legal climate doesn't suit me anymore. The typical level of honesty and confidence in the correct behavior of counterparties leaves a great deal to be desired. I found I could not depend on institutional lenders, title companies, escrow companies or real estate brokers to know what they are doing and do it properly, carefully, conscientiously, or take responsibility for it when they did not. Tenants and buyers can be even worse, and the law, at least in CA, is too much on their side. I concluded that only the government is dumb enough to make loans in this moral and legal climate, where "I promise to pay..." means nothing.
Our company built a couple of dozen homes back about ten years ago. Eight years after the sales closed, a law firm sponsored a picnic in the park, set aside by the developer, to sign up people to sue us for construction defects. These are homes that almost nobody has sold because of the superior quality! We had taken care of every complaint years before, but were forced to spend several hundred thousands dollars to defend, and investigate, and eventually settle these unjustified complaints. As far as I am concerned, these ungrateful bums can live in tents hereafter.
I did have some successes, quite a few, I suppose, and some really good tenants over the years, but the ones that tore up the place, costs tens of thousands to repair are the ones that stick in your mind. Spending $60,000 to rehab a dwelling that some pig has torn up takes a lot of the fun out of real estate investing.
Stocks are much easier, much less hassle and far more honest and straight forward.
My father and I are both landlords, and the most expensive rehab we have had to perform on our rental properties have been after Section 8 tenants have vacated, usually without notice and prior to the end of the lease.
I told him where I would be at the house everyday cleaning up his mess. He never showed up. I have also had some very good renters, too. I refuse to rent with government subsidies because your odds of ending up with a situation in the video are greatly increased.