The escape of Andy in the Shawshank Redemption, another helpful cinematic metaphor.

He intends to move into the home sometime in the future, at which point I'd have to hop off of the metaphorical gravy train, but he doesn't have any timeframe for when he intends to move back.

That's how it works in the mortgage world, too, except that maybe a decade of sales/marketing experience gets you the metaphorical Private First Class status instead of Private.Once you do get your foot in the door it is very much a pure meritocracy.

I've saved myself a lot of money and my tenants (metaphorically speaking) a lot of grief.

The metaphor here being that in my local market here i cant approach investing in 2018-19 with 2008-2009 investing strategies and tactics. 

@Jon Dow  I have been using flying metaphors this week...

I can go on about metaphors but will spare you the agony. 

If a business owns a property you are interested in, this can help you figure out who is the wizard behind the curtain (to use a Wizard of Oz metaphor).HOA COVENANTSIf the property is in a subdivision with a homeowners association or condo association, the HOA can set additional rules about what you can do with the property.

Not to get super metaphysical on you, but either you believe that we live in a zero sum world where me making a dollar takes a dollar out of your pocket, or you believe that through human ingenuity and cooperation the pie continuously gets larger (sorry to mix metaphors).

I've been interested in real estate investing for about the past 10 years, but have never really had the gumption to metaphorically jump off the boat to see if I could swim or not.I don't have much capital, but have excellent credit and almost no debt.I think the route that I want to take is to buy and rent properties slowly over time, then use that income to pay off those loans, but am not opposed to doing some quick flipping if the diamond in the rough happens to present itself.I don't have a realtor's license nor do I have any close friends with one (yet).