I would bet 65% of discount/flat-fee brokerages will be bankrupt/out of business within 18 months from today. 

haha , if we think about it and using the this analogy then that's the reason why most bank/lenders should be bankrupt  by now because they are borrowing us money with 2% rate and the debt is so low for asset that's increased a lot.

Some of these small contractors are basically bankrupt day to day, taking your deposit to finish the last job. 

It's interesting that in my third post on this thread that I said about my tactic "...what I did 5 or so years ago..." which was right after the great recession when NOBODY was getting a loan and builders were going bankrupt left and right.

(Prior to graduating college and getting a full time job, I was an incredibly social person, so this was a huge change of mindset to sacrifice the way I did).And on the other end, my brother decided to start his own business while I was working and did not work hard as he spent money like crazy and eventually went bankrupt (filed 1 year ago) .

"I never knew someone who went bankrupt making a profit"3.

I do have personal knowledge of 3 people who lost everything, went bankrupt and one is being sued.

Then you have to come out of pocket, can you afford that or will it bankrupt you.

This was a half-finished subdivision from the late 80s with middle to upper-middle class homes - the residents had a lien against the former developer who went bankrupt and left the road in state of disrepair (never done the correct way)...so 10 years bankrupt...I bought it from the town for backtaxes and agreement to build new road.3.

Here's my situation in short details:Bought a commercial property for $699K in 2019 through a 1031 exchange which cash flowed beautifully until late 2022 when the tenant bankrupted and moved out.