I am not looking to accumulate many properties monopoly style and I can't be on the ground or get into any kind of fixer upper deals since I am living abroad. 

I just worry for a major work like installing new roof, those ad hoc stuff could accumulate to a much higher number.But if I let them buy the material, I am not sure if they are gonna buy good materials given this roof needs to last long.

With every subsequent invoice, show the accumulated back rent AND late fees as they build up.Now, the tenants that actually are impacted by this will be made aware of what's expected of them...and, these are the tenants you can play nice with (if needed), when that time comes.This scares, and usually, and miraculously, fixes whatever the "problem" was that allowed them to take advantage of the situation.

Ever since reading The Book on Rental Property Investing and learning of BP, I have devoured countless hours of the BP podcast and have been accumulating real estate books faster than I can read (currently have 5 waiting on the shelf as I read David Greene's Long-Distance Real Estate Investing).

The house was purchased for 203k, our remaining mortgage is 191k, and the current market estimate (although not an official appraisal) is 276k.Our goal is to accumulate properties through the BRRRR method, and as I see it, we have two avenues through which to do this:I can simply use the money in my account to BRRRR.I can pay off my rental property in Beaumont, TX, and utilize a HELOC to BRRRR.I know that most people will say that they never want to pay off a house due to the tenant paying it off for you, and the difference in percentage returns that you get based off of appreciation, tenant payoff, etc.

In a worst case scenario I’d love to even take him to lunch and learn how he accumulated all of the properties.

If you are seeking out asset accumulation and equity appreciation over the long term then there are certainly fortunes to be made.

There are dozens of questions you and I might not know to ask that others would. if you’re just looking for cash flow and tax benefits and wealth accumulation, I would agree with @Drew Wahlgren.

At the end of the day, I am a buy and hold investor so I am all for accumulating as much properties as possible as long as they are profitable otherwise you will be supporting that property out of your own pocket every month, which limits your growth dramatically. 

That would leave us with around $70k liquid cash.We rent an apartment month-to-month until we find a good duplex to purchase (ideally within 1 year).We house-hack the duplex until we accumulate enough cash to buy a SFH for ourselves (3-5 years).We retain ownership of the duplex and rent out both units.In my mind, this approach could "get the ball rolling", considering we can't afford to buy an investment property with our current circumstances, nor would we be able to for many years.What would you do if you were in the same boat?