Income Levels

[Jason V.]

I'm going to ask what might be seen as an impertinent question here, so feel free to give generic answers (or no answer - I'm not looking to make anyone upset.)

I see a ton of big numbers thrown around on the BP forums (buying 350 properties during a downturn, owning 500 properties, etc.) and while I think some of the "Internet Law of Averaging" may apply (i.e. take reality and multiply it by as much as necessary to make it sound impressive) I get the impression there isn't a ton of that happening here. When everyone seems to know everyone, and you have to use real names, websites, locations, etc. for everything here, I'm sure there's a lot of really successful folks here. 

But wouldn't that essentially translate to folks making several million dollars a year hanging out on an internet message board? Not to say that's impossible, but as an outsider, it almost seems to be a little too good to be true. I tend to violently recoil from anything with even a whiff of "get rich quick" because I disagree with that mentality entirely. 

I ask, somewhat out of curiosity, but also because I'm trying to figure out how realistic my own goals are. My wife and I are making offers to buy our second investment property right now (a 5 unit building) and my conservative numbers mean that we would reach my current goals to replace her income with around 6-8 properties. This isn't a small thing - she's an RN. The one we currently own wasn't purchased as an investment, but has turned into one. The ones we're looking to move on right now....well, I don't think I'll get screaming deals like this all the time, or maybe they're only deals to me because I'm comfortable with the area I'm shopping? What does this mean for folks who own 350 properties? Because that's an awful lot of money....

For the sake of discussion, in my estimates I use real mortgage and tax numbers, generally below market rate rents, 12% vacancy, 10% maintenance, 12% management (even though we will manage ourselves), 10% insurance, 3% capital expenses, and real building expenses when necessary. Am I missing something? Obviously I check out all the properties before hanging my hat on just the numbers, and they're not disasters or falling over. They're not pretty, either. But I've rehabbed houses (and I work full-time as an engineer) so I'm somewhat confident they're not junk.....what am I missing here? 

Thanks All!