When the real estate market is competitive, investors must be careful about what they pay for a property. Bidding wars and high costs can cause what would have been a good investment opportunity to turn into a real dud. That said, protecting your cash flow depends on far more than what you pay at closing. It’s more than the rental rates you set. No – protecting and maximizing passive income has far more to do with your strategic choices and due diligence.

Listening to real estate experts and economists lately, you’ll see that the writing is on the wall: if we’re not already in a recession, we’ll be in one soon. The past few years have been an economic rollercoaster, particularly for those of us in the real estate industry. After riding the wave of a white-hot market, it can feel as though an era of unprecedented growth is over.

So, you’ve purchased an investment property. The renovations have been completed, the residents have signed a lease, and you’re ready to start earning some sweet, sweet passive income.

When navigating the world of passive real estate investing for the first time, understanding how to manage your newfound income effectively can be challenging. This can arguably be one of the more difficult things to navigate. How do you responsibly utilize your cash flow? What is the best way to manage your new stream of income?

For any buy-and-hold real estate investor, passive income is the most important factor in any investment. Sure, appreciation is nice, but it’s the bonus: the cherry on top. Cash flow is what actually makes the investment worthwhile.

When it comes to earning passive income through real estate investment, there’s little more crucial than protecting the investments that you worked so hard to acquire.

For real estate investors, your streams of cash flow keep your business going. They are what enable you to create the financial future of your dreams: whether that entails funding an investment empire, building the retirement of a lifetime, or simply having everything you need so that money never has to be a worry for you or your children.

We’ve all heard it said before: cash flow is king. For real estate investors, the quest to maximize and protect our cash flow is never ending. We’re always on the hunt for the best avenues to get the most out of our investments while making sure we’ve done everything in our power to protect what we already have.

However, we often confuse cash flow for our only revenue stream and forget that what we really need to protect is our investment income.  That can come in many forms and smart investors never take their eye off the big picture.  They never sacrifice their over-all income for a smaller piece of the pie called cash flow.