I don’t know how you avoid paying $500 for a $100 toilet plus labor, but it does leave a sour taste in your mouth. 

At this point or once you buy a house you can make the decision to leave your w2 if it makes sense for your situation and pursue your chosen path full time.This is one of many paths I'm sure you'll get but over the course of this process you get a taste of a few different areas of real estate.

Tasteful remodel, opened kitchen which doubled the size of kitchen alone, deleted all steps, 9' ceilings, and much more..

A little background information about myself, I grew up in a lower middle-class family but always had high ambition and expensive taste.

We're all a mixed bag of nuts and all have different tastes and senses. 

Thier taste could be very specific. 

As a side note and you may already know this, if you are looking in more affordable neighborhoods like you mentioned, my personal opinion is it is key to visit those neighborhoods before living there and get a taste for what the neighborhood is like.

If it pays off, fantastic, but you'll have to time it just right and with that huge an expectation (10 years isn't really that long in RE) the likelihood that the investment will fall short is just too great for my tastes.

Stellar design and wonderful taste.

That left a sour taste in my mouth and slowed me down from making further investment.