Speaking purely on what kind of real estate vehicle I'm most interested in doing; my dream scenario is to buy apartment complexes and own the property management company that runs them. 

The only "cost" to this strategy is the difference between my mortgage rate and my HELOC rate (eg. 4% vs 6%) to have the meowny in a different vehicle.

I used 2 vehicles I owned as collateral for the down payment.

The end goal is to have have to have enough parking for a single vehicle per unit, to separate the water and electricity, and to convert the single family into a duplex. 

Also, I need the living area to be at least 7ft off the ground due to 100 year flood plain so thinking lower area would be for vehicles. 

As a fellow car enthusiast, squashing my desire to purchase a new vehicle is a battle I face almost daily.

You can get better interest and longer terms in your personal name but it creates higher DTI for when you want to make a purchase such as a vehicle or personal property.

To me... taking 1 hour out of my time (including driving time, coordinating, correspondence), paying for gas and vehicle maintenance to drive to properties, taking videos, taking photos, filling out a property checklist, compiling it all to email it forward -  for $20 doesn't really make sense.

You need the right combination of revolving debt, personal loans, vehicle loans... and in the right amounts and obviously with good payment history.

I have the top blog post on the Member Blogs page for this month arguing that if you're looking for cash flow, real estate is not the optimal vehicle (although I am a real estate investor and am buying real estate, as well).