When real estate was booming in through , many people jumped right in. The patient real estate investor realizes if they plan accordingly, and let simple compound interest take over, that they can over the course of a few years acquire a powerful passive income stream, with little or no money out-of-pocket. There are always fluctuations in market value. Buying a property to flip takes guts too. But income property «can be an important bridge to retirement for those without quite enough to retire in the traditional sense,» says J.