And that's probably to do with it being customary vs actually that time consuming...

There are more billionaires now than in 2016 so it would be time consuming for me to determine what percent of them had significant RE holdings.The top of the billionaire list is full of entrepreneurs as you indicated but in 2016 just over 10% of the billionaires had significant RE holdings. 

Profit has to be made in order for those products and services to continually be offered, improved and consumed. 

Our priorities changed and I have been ravenously consuming FIRE media for the past year.

That is a difficult and time consuming process, and just a small part of the value us list providers offer.

While I don't have a lot of concrete achievements I can point to (due to only being 17) I scored a 32 on the ACT, and have been able to refine my networking abilities through myriad professional development events in my community over the last two years.I've been reading and consuming as much as I can from Bigger Pockets for years.

If your net monthly positive cashflow is 2.5x your personal housing expense plus all other non-mortgage consumer monthly debt obligations, and you are buying cashflow positive real estate, you can get a normal Fannie loan.

@Anthony Gayden - as you say the math is the math but my point of the original post was I wanted more cash flow properties at the beginning and my strategy of buying “cheap” homes consumed to much cash in the beginning.

As far as DIY, painting will be tedious and time consuming, but if you break up the trim and the rolling between two people, it could take you a couple of days to paint a whole place, and it will save you a ton of money.

Banks are simply set up to accommodate consumers, not investors.