Saving to buy a big apartment complex

[Eric Bilderback]

I am curious if any of you have thought of how to save money/capital and move into a giant (for me) 50 unit or so apartment complex.  I hear investors compare it to the game of Monopoly 4 houses for one hotel.  Tactically, however selling 10 homes to trade into a giant apartment complex would be difficult.  My specific situation is I did a 1031 exchange into a 15 unit apartment, which I am hoping in 5-10 years will allow me to trade up into the big time (for me) 50 or so units.  I want to invest my current profits and any other money I can scrape together into more real estate.  Probably a house or two per year until I have enough capital to invest in a large multifamily.  That cashflows good enough to quit working.  I have begun to wonder as I am looking at all of these little houses what the exit would look like.  I am thinking maybe I should hold off and buy fewer more expensive properties to ensure I don't have ten or so on the market all at the same time, when I will hopefully be trying to execute the final part of my plan and consolidating all of my capital for one property.  The down side of buying bigger properties is it will take longer to save up for them.  Idol money is not good and could cost me valuable time.  You guys love this stuff as much as me.  Do you have a similar plan and if so how do you plan on cashing in all of your houses for a hotel?  

Happy Mothers Day to all you badass investor moms and soon to be investor moms out there,