Listening to this just makes me sick to my stomach, this is just all really unfortunate.

[If others disagree, I'd like to read why].So if your motivation is purely to maximize your current investment, perhaps find out how much the cheapest fixer-upper small studio, in as worse a neighborhood as you could stomach, in as far a radius from your work as commutable, would cost.

As a self proclaimed control freak I can't stomach investing heavily in stocks and letting outside forces dictate my wealth 

I don't think I'd have the stomach to do that. 

Now that I am debt free in my personal finances I will be working to get a decent lump some of 6 months of my current expenses built up by the end of this year so I will have the pockets to stomach a water heater going out or a leaking roof in my first home.Then I can move on to saving a small down payment (I'm going the 3.5% FHA route) to get a multifamily home or home with a converted basement here in the Atlanta market for myself to live in one of the units and begin my investing career. 

You can also cherry pick real estate deals where someone made millions,tens of millions or more in profit on a deal.People can talk in broad strokes on a macro view but then there will always be unique examples at the micro level.I have lots of clients that have made gains in stocks and now they want to get out as they cannot stomach the market.

If you have the stomach for it, it's a very rewarding business but sometimes it can be scary, disturbing, challenging & sometimes down right disgusting.ENJOY!

If there's enough meat there and you have the stomach to renovate then maybe it's worth it to flip. 

Even more I find that some owners just can’t stomach putting out a single parent with kids.

They were really cheap, I have larger liability policies for my overall businesses & I can stomach the loss if they go poof.