By Zane Willman, Associate Advisor | CCG Real Estate Advisors
Most investors think about retirement in terms of savings and timelines. But for anyone who owns rental property, real estate is often the most important and underutilized tool in the whole plan.
The challenge is that most investors haven’t connected what they own today with the lifestyle they want later. At CCG, this is what we do: helping investors understand how their real estate supports their income, time, and long-term goals as they move into/towards retirement.
Below is a simple framework that we use with clients. It’s meant to make the process feel clear and obvious because good retirement planning shouldn’t feel overwhelming.
1. Start With Your Burn Rate
Everything begins with: What does it cost to COMFORTABLY live your life each month?
That includes travel, family needs, medical costs, and the operating expenses of the properties you plan to keep.
Once you know this number, it becomes easy to understand what your portfolio needs to produce. This is the anchor for every decision that comes next.
2. Set a Real Retirement Income Goal
The second step is deciding how much monthly income you want in retirement.
Some investors want to maintain their current lifestyle. Others want more freedom or less stress.
Your real estate portfolio either supports that number or it needs to be repositioned so it does. That’s where strategic selling, consolidating, or exchanging comes into play.
This is also where CCG helps clients model different retirement outcomes:
- “What does my retirement look like if I keep these properties?”
- “Or if I exchange into something more stable?”
- “Or if I sell the weak performers and keep the best assets?”
It becomes a planning conversation, not a guessing game.
3. Decide How Hands-On You Want to Be
Retirement isn’t just about income. It's also about time.
It's important to ask yourself: How involved do you want to be with your real estate when you retire?
For many clients, the answer is: “Not much.”
For others, managing a couple buildings is something they enjoy.
The level of involvement you want determines what types of assets make sense to keep. Some properties are perfect for passive ownership. Others demand attention, renovations, or constant tenant turnover. Knowing what lifestyle you’re aiming for helps us guide you toward the right structure.
4. Identify Which Properties Support Your Desired Lifestyle
Every investor has a mix of winners and laggards.
Some properties produce stable cash flow and require very little oversight. Others barely cash flow or need constant attention. Before retirement, it’s essential to understand which ones are actually helping you and which ones might be holding your plan back.
Often, retirement becomes far more achievable when you simply reorganize what you already own.
5. Build a Portfolio That Performs When You Stop Working
A retirement-ready portfolio is predictable, simple, and designed to produce income without demanding your time.
That usually means focusing on:
-
stable cash-flowing units
-
manageable operating costs
-
long-term debt you’re comfortable with
-
assets in strong, low-volatility locations
You don’t need to maximize returns. You need to maximize peace of mind. And the right real estate structure does exactly that.
6. Make Sure the Plan Works Even in a Down Market
Real estate in general is a great investment against a recession but good retirement planning includes stress-testing the portfolio.
- “What happens if rents dip?”
- “What if expenses rise?”
- “How does a property perform if a unit goes vacant?”
We model these scenarios for clients so they can see whether their plan holds up under pressure. The goal is to build a retirement structure that works even when the market isn’t perfect.
This entire process is where we specialize. We're brokers, and we come from a background in wealth-management, meaning we can connect planning to real transactions.
We help private investors:
-
Analyze their portfolio
-
Understand which assets fit their retirement goals
-
Reposition into better, more stable properties
-
Simplify their holdings if needed
-
And build a long-term plan that feels clear and achievable
When clients know how their real estate supports their retirement, they make better decisions and retirement becomes a lot less uncertain.
If you’re thinking about how your properties fit into your retirement, or want to understand what your next step should be, we’d be happy to walk through it with you.
