I’ve talked to many landlords over the years and we all have our individual reasons for becoming landlords. I’d like to think of these are due to our landlord mindset and that mindset may not always involve a straight path.

Some people are using rental properties to create their own retirement income. Others are using it as a vehicle to escape their jobs by creating cash flow right now and others are using it to create long term wealth for not just themselves but their family as well.

All of these are great reasons, but they also require their own unique landlord mindset.

Here are a few of the mindsets I’ve run into along my journey of educating landlords.

Retirement Mindset

For those planning on using their rentals to subsidize their retirement it requires a longer term landlord mindset with plans to use the income and possibly the sale of the property to fund that retirement.

These landlords are primary focus isn’t the now, but the then which could be five ten, twenty years down the road or more!

Day Job Replacement Mindset

In this case your landlord mindset is focused on maximizing cash flow NOW!!

The faster you increase your cash flow, the sooner you can get out of your job. This was where we were at 15 years ago and our focus was acquiring as many properties as possible and getting huge amounts of cash flow coming in.

Long Term Wealth Mindset

This mindset seems to be the landlord mindset that many longer term landlords or Real Estate investors evolve into once they see their portfolio grow and better understand what they’ve created for themselves.

Sometimes it’s by accident, sometimes it’s all part of the master plan!

What’s Your Landlord Mindset?

Of course there are also dozens of other mindsets or combinations of plans that people end up in.

Very common is the accidental landlord who became stuck with a property and tried becoming a landlord (these often don’t end well for the landlord…). There’s also the I Attended a Seminar Landlord, some of whom succeed while others sit on the sidelines forever afraid of pulling the trigger and taking action.

Whatever your actual mindset is, it helps point you towards your eventual goal. Whether it’s the short term or the long term goal, it all starts with that mindset.

If you have a strong plan and a strong goal it becomes far easier to achieve, far easier to articulate to others and even reinforcing to yourself when you share it.

So today’s Friday thought is a question for you. What’s your landlord mindset?

Leave a comment below telling me what your goal is and why and for the brave maybe even share what you’ve learned along the way to help you!