Any ideas / suggestions regarding buying or starting a business that eventually & realistically can be owned & operated as an absentee owner?

I've been self-employed all my life, currently own a jewelry kiosk in a large mall, & have some rental residential real estate. The jewelry kiosk is a fair amount of work, the rental properties less so, but they don't throw off a lot of money yet. Would love to find a business to start or buy that would reliably net $100G/year for an absentee owner.

Best ideas at the moment:

1) Self Storage facility: could be run by a manager, no?

2) Develop or buy a mobile home park where people pay you a monthly fee to place their mobile home on your concrete slab. I play poker w/ a uber rich guy, he says it's the best business--he owns the land, a bunch of concrete slabs, and some water pipes. Pays a lawn company to maintain the place, longterm renters, very little management. Again, he doesn't own the mobile homes, just the concrete slabs they sit on.

Anyone have any good ideas or suggestions?

I think you're looking for some sort of internet based business.

As for the trailer park do you really expect trailer park people to all just pay their rent every month on time on their own?

Mobile Home parks are one of the best ways to develop cash flow from a flat piece of ground that's being held for the long term.

They're cheap to develop (roads, water and electric hookups), the tenants own their own "homes" thus you don't have to improve or maintain anything and once the land value finally came around, you could evict everyone and sell it as one big hit.

The only problem you might face is zoning; zoning laws in the past 20 years have shifted viciously against mobile homes, so depending on where you live, developing a new park might be a PITA.

Worst business for an absentee owner: Hotel. IM me if you want first hand tales in that regard.

Laundromats, putt putt golf courses, go cart tracks, golf driving ranges, used bookstores and car washes. Any of these requires a manager that won't steal more from you than you can afford.

If only I had the money to build some storage units I would do it. Pizza by the slice is a goldmine in a crowded, touristy location. You would of course need a trustworthy manager to run it (very hard to find if not impossible). A small liquor store is a great money maker in the right location with someone to run it for you.

I agree that an internet business might be a good choice. Being "technologically challenged" however, puts me at somewhat of a disadvantage there.

As for trailer parks, you're not taking into consideration two important factors:
1) The trailer park my poker-friend owns is in south Florida & is filled with snow birds and retirees, a fairly reliable & easy to deal with crowd, no doubt not the demographic you assumed.
2) The important point to remember is that in this type of trailer park, you own the land, but the renters own their own mobile home. No one wants to go through the expense of having to move the entire thing, so if a tenant can't/won't pay, you simple evict them, and there's nothing for them to damage if they get p***ed off, unlike if they were renting a house or apt. from you

I own two mobile home parks, as well as some apartment buildings and other real estate. By far the best investments that I've found in real estate are mobile home parks. I've made a killing on them.

In terms of development, it is more than likely impossible to get the zoning to build a mobile home park. Even if you can cities will generally create so many hoops to jump through that development won't work as an investment. This is part of what makes the MHP a great investment. If you have MHP zoning, you are essentially guaranteed that there will be limited competition.

But there isn't any reason why you couldn't own other types of real estate and do well absentee. IMO for absentee ownership real estate is probably the best way to go.

Watchmaker:

A hotel?!? You gotta' be kidding me! LOL Yea, I can imagine that would not be a hassle-free business! I'd like to own & operate a hotel about as much as I'd like to open a restaurant!

Used bookstores, putt putts and go cart tracks all sound fairly risky to me, but what do I know.

The question was what are good for absentee ownership, not whether or not the business model would be sound in this economic environment. Also I did mention that you need a manager that will steal only marginally and not so much to put you out of business.