I am particularly interested in the buy and hold aspect of investing, but also recently have taken an interest in flipping.

If you are worried about exit strategies and the rural aspect of the investment raises your risk for resale, then calculate that into your price and buying decision. 

Account Closed I'm maxing out on the pre-tax contribution amount every year, my employer matches 5% of my pay contribution, the markets would have to have an average loss of -15% every year for the next 25 years for me to end up with a balance that consist of just my payroll contributions.I think those numbers on the charts you're listing are for people working low wage jobs and probably contributing a few hundred dollars a month to their 401K plans, in that scenario putting 200-300 dollars a month away is something that will help but probably not going to be enough to live on in retirement.Like many have mentioned on here you have to be diversified with Real Estate and various aspects of the financial markets, If you're heavily positioned in one market or the other with no diversification you'll end up in the average pool of investors.

I would appreciate hearing from other lease option folks about how they explain this aspect of lease options.

@Edgardo CorreaThe most important aspect of wholesaling is the contacts you have in this business.

We have had success with the debt-reduction aspect of Dave Ramsey; we personally have gotten "gazelle intense" in paying off debt, and saving up everything...bonuses, tax returns, birthday presents, bought older cars, etc. in a quest for down payment funds. 

Some of the renovations might qualify for bonus depreciation thus increasing your losses.You can have a main LLC who manages the properties to take advantage of the strategies but you might not need to do that this year since you are having losses anyways, something to consider for January 2019 and you want to consult with an attorney for the legal aspect of it.

It really goes into detail about every aspect of building a house. 

Also open to any local investor that are interested in helping out a newbie on his path to real estate investing success in this market I’m willing to help out on others deals to learn, partnerships maybe that I do some minimum aspects to take some task off an investors plate so I can learn more hands on and grow.

That skilled is used in every aspect of real estate investing ... if you plan on scaling ... 50 properties or more.