But, how do they do it.

[Tasha Davis]

how are people able to buy so many houses so quickly? My boyfriend is buying a house (duplex) and I am also buying a duplex( we will be living in mine). Are are you able to save for federal tax on rental income, money for if things go wrong and money for a down payment for another house? Listening to some podcasts and people are buying 30 houses in 3 years, but I can't understand how. Ideas? Tips

[Alice K.]

Personally, I think you're doing it the right way as slow and steady seems smart for starting out! (Maybe I'm just a turtle.)

Some ways / thoughts :

• Buy in more affordable locations (I do work in SF, homes are literally, median 1.2M / lone home! If I meet 1 owner, I'm already impressed :) ) When someone says to me that have 16 homes in a short amount of time? I think, "well, probably not super expensive ones!" Try asking them the cost of each property and work they put into it and return. 
• Jobs / simply working their butts off - People like to say they don't like their job, but at the same time I think, "well, maybe we should be like them more / we all need more brainwashing Kool aid because we wouldn't be able to buy without hard work!" (For those who started with nothing.)
• Saved the cash / moved funds from a savings / stocks into homes instead - Many I've listened to took many many years and just recently jumped in! Of course, no one ever talks about the sweat and blood it took to save all that!
• Find partners (the "other people's money" mentioned by @Allan Rosso) - I pass people all the time who say they own a ton of homes. Simply talk to them more, you may discover they have different people they invest with, not just their own things. 

One important thing I think about: SURE, you can own 100 homes, but, imagine what your life would look like if you didn't scale that right... (eg: you self-managed and just suddenly woke up with 100 tenants. wew...)

Another spin to the question: What's the ROI work for all the work they're doing? One can have "50 doors" but have to work their tales off...

Not much of that financial freedom people likes to brag about. 

Hope there is something in there that helps!