For example, if your EMD is $2,000, they will lend you that amount for a fee.Borrow against stock portfolios - If you have a stock portfolio or retirement accounts, most brokerages will allow you to borrow up to 40% of the portfolio's market value.

Since I am familiar with stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) already, I thought why not give it a shot and see what is in for me in this industry?

Every single time my prediction is deadly accurate.

. $5mil in RE and $5mil in REIT's/stocks gives you great diversification, liquidity, and cash flow in my opinion.

I also don't know if there's a specific process we have to go through with the city for it to be recognized as a duplex down.Basically, I just don't know if the status as an illegal garden unit (the lack of ceiling height and correct zoning) prevents me legally from using the space for either of these ideas and legally, or if it's just dead space. 

what is really needed is :- online forum like biggerpocket or similar like seekingalpha.com for stock- a private only investor forum for more very niche / advanced topics- just by following some smart and experienced people in these forum (les say Jay/Steve/Marcus) these are what's needed- even now, these days twitter has be come a very good resource for real estate too as both side of argumentation (long or sell) is always available, twitter is especially very resourful for very advanced economics explanation and also commercial RE.

The prospects for appreciation are limited (probably below the inflation rate), your tenant pool sucks to manage from out of state, your risk is high because you don't know what the heck you're doing - none of us did on the first go; that's not personal - and your flippant verbiage is treating this more like trading stocks than buying property. 

@Wesley BryantHistorical figures showed real estate and the markets are very similar for returnsIf you are more active as an investor then their is opportunity for higher returns just as if you wanted to be more active in the market.The reason why it might be worth one or the other is diversification and investing in non correlating assets.I invest in real estate because (I think) I know what I am doing - and for stocks that is not my specialty.

One could be a dead on city view and the other partial.

Maybe local investors as well who want real estate safety vs stock market or commodity risk.