Like you said in your post, "Buying and holding is a long term strategy...............focus on the end goal"The second reason for trying to get good deals is that if you can get a 10-20% built in equity off the bat, it has the advantage of:- taking a big part of the risk factor off the table- built in equity that can be utilized as required- better cash flowThere are a lot of people on BPs that say that "money is made on the front end in RE".

No, meaning that if you had professional support it's likely they helped you set the table for later.This much structure with five properties can be overload and proper planning.

And I don't think it was a very serious offer, it came up in a conversation about selling my team, which is absolutely not on the table. 

The downside of that is I am leaving money on the table.

Is the house hack strategy off the table? 

"Track the input and let the effort determine the outcomes"This mindset took the pressures of outcome, off the table.

Look at a zoning table and see what is possible in each.  

This did formulate a table of income and expenses and I had the option to include receipts I uploaded for those income and expense transactions. 

We have a Pottery Barn table at our personal house and we would not buy it again knowing what we know.There was a lady I know that got bedroom furniture that was made out of plastic material and looked good.

By the way, from what I read in the Wall Street Journal, there’s a growing number of niche investors cropping up who love grabbing assignments that fly under the mainstream radar, especially if you’re bringing something fresh to the table like a distressed duplex they can reposition, or a small portfolio of row homes they can turn into long-term rentals.