At the beginning, it may be difficult to get a more expensive property that will appreciate well and so your choice is go with the cheaper property and get cash flow until you can sell and upgrade, or wait for a really good deal which you may be waiting for quite a while and its possible that you will have spent so much time waiting that you could have purchased multiple cash flowing properties by the time you get a good appreciation deal that you can qualify for / refinance after the rehab. i know anyone can go out and get seller financing deals, HML, flip to build capital or whatever the case may be I am just saying sometimes those will be harder and could result in less deals overall. 

I've spent the last 3 years nagging the city to sell me a lot next to my property so I can install a driveway and they've finally agreed.

And I should say that I have property in Japan, and have spent nearly 15 years there.

We have spent the last several years reading (rich dad poor dad, total money makeover, etc.), listening to bigger pockets and other podcasts, and learning about real estate.

Quote from @Garrett Cuppels: spent $15 on a book about Airbnb rentalWhat book did you buy?

In my opinion, more important metrics are total profit and time spent managing the operation.All marketing works.

Any repair (perhaps over a certain number of repairs) or time spent on a door outside of routine management is a "claim."  

I have already spent quite a bit on attorney's fees myself. 

After doing an audit on my time and realizing that I spent over 40% of my time shopping for materials, I knew I needed to find a better solution.

I had nothing to show for the thousands I spent for rent.