I'm in Gilberts and I work with a lot of local investors in Chicagoland, both with getting started/house hacking, and also building up to their first 10 properties creating their REI empire.

Good topic....My son and his wife will inherit my meager 'empire'.

I'm just not sure which route I should take to start building an empire.

In the meantime, they keep running through the BRRRR motions believing they are growing a real estate empire because the BRRRR method pencils best in these neighborhoods which lack the fundamentals that will equate to a true realization event. 

But there are many other companies that are building their own real-estate empires in different ways (e.g.

I'm not saying to avoid debt, I'm saying once you create your empire the best thing to do is start lessening debt.

I have no desire to build an empire.  

Build your own empire!

Internal & external war and currency devaluation did ruin every great empire.

The man has hundreds of milllions in his real estate empire using no debt.