Ditto, I use PriceLabs for my STRs - here is a nice writeup ...Airbnb Smart Pricing Vs PriceLabs: An In-Depth Comparison For Hosts | Boost Your Short-Term Rentals

However, there's an obvious loophole to the claim because if you buy a house for 999K and then the value goes over 1 million then technically you're one of the 90% that just became a millionaire through real estate :) REIT investing is a much less active way of investing into the 11 major real estate sub-sectors, in the US we have 274 listed REITs on the major exchanges of NYSE and NASDAQ, and about 75-80 of them are not equity REITs but rather mortgage REITs, which I like to park cash in when 10yr yields are trending down to give me capital appreciation plus 14-15% dividend yields. check out alreits | Global REIT Researchto do more thorough individual research.

In particular, I’m a huge fan of the South Side of Chicago or Northwest Indiana for cash-flowing properties.

Cash flow a must, appreciation a plus.

We also have many unique buyer incentives where an investor can get up to a 10% price reduction to come into immediate equity, or get that 10% as a cash back at closing to reduce your down payment and increase your ROI, or buy rates down into the low 4s on 30yr loans to maximize cash flow.

A cash out refi should take 2-3 weeks with most lenders, and you should have only an appraisal a credit report fee as upfront costs. 

Purchase price: $115 Cash invested: $17,000 This is my first fix and flip.

I borrowed $30k on a personal loan from Discover for 15% with no fees for a plot of land and paid "cash" for it.

Looking to net 4 figures a month in cash flow with this unit - the goal is to close 7 more by the end of the year - let's see how it goes. 

This would end up getting you some tax benefits and extra cash flow that could help you leverage that into another property...maybe a 1031 exchange.