Then live below your means and invest the surplus.

Once I pay off my mortgage, there will be a huge surplus.

The only difficulty they had was there was surplus funds once they sold and moved - which then needed to be put somewhere - so ultimately they did invest.There are a lot of financial illiterates who argue that the economic results of Buy and Hold are better than taking quick profits - which is completely incorrect, as you no doubt appreciate.When it comes to making money Passive Income is a mere trickle compared to aggressive deal doing!

There is no risk once your diversified investments are a sufficient safety net.Leaving surplus cash as equity in properties is high risk due to market fluctuations.

I own my own job selling surplus industrial MRO parts on eBay.

At that time, we built a housing surplus.

I did use it for investments, but I always had a surplus.

With all of this, California is swimming with a $9 BILLION surplus. 

And likely will stay that way because the supply is constrained and the demand is high.Certain cities that you mentioned have what I call "surplus" real estate.  

Why doesn't the state donate all of its surplus properties, as well as counties and cities to developers that can deliver the highest number of units for the lowest cost?