Generating passive income sounds amazing in concept, doesn’t it? Income. Passive. Knowing that without expending too much time, effort, and energy, you could be racking up the cash to cover your retirement, or that trip to the Bahamas you’ve been dreaming about. Passive income comes in many shapes and sizes. Now more than ever, there are a million different ways to start generating passive income.

And real estate investment, in certain forms, is one of them!

It all depends on how you choose to invest. Investing in real estate can be a great avenue to financial security and freedom, but would-be investors need to be wary of the myths and misconceptions surrounding earning passive income through real estate.

We’ve written many a time about the issue of millennial homebuyers. More importantly, a lack thereof. Millennials, our generation’s 20- and 30-somethings, are often saddled with student debt and financial hardships that cause them to delay life’s big milestones: buying a home, getting married, and having children.

To most of us investors, we think of millennials as our renters. Not our colleagues. For millennials, however, getting involved in real estate investment—particularly turnkey real estate investment—might just be the best route to homeownership and financial freedom.

Everyone has a different plan anda different preference when it comes to investing in real estate. Full-time, part-time, turnkey, fix and flip...the list is endless.

One would think that being a part-time real estate investor is the easiest way to go: and most of the time, that’s true. But it’s not because the investor is part time. In fact, if you go into the world of real estate investment without understanding the work that goes into it, you’ll wind up biting off more than you can chew.

Part-time investing—not relying on your investments as your only source of income, in other words—can be very rewarding. If done right, having a well thought out and secure business plan for investing in real estate is the surest pathway to earning passive income. But how exactly do you ‘do it right’?

We’ve already established that there is no such thing as hands-off real estate investment. “Passive” real estate investment doesn’t usually mean sitting by while other people handle your investments for you as you enjoy a tasty piña colada on the beach of some tropical island (though if you've figured out the secret to this method, please share!).