I'm trying to come up with a 5 year plan on purchasing properties through any possible vehicles (loans, investors, etc).  

You always want to offer "help" or solutions..I know in many cases, if you have a vehicle that says " I BUY HOUSES" Plastered on it, potential sellers do not want it in their driveway.  

I was actually curious myself about the precise etymology, so I looked it up and found a whole new phrase for the same idea:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_chestI've never heard the phrase "cash mountain."  

This is precisely the reason why I'm upset with Intuit, because you're right, had I known this before I could have stopped that tenant from paying through Intuit.Indeed, companies aren't perfect, but typically, when they make a mistake, they go out of their way to fix it manually, Intuit didn't go the extra mile.

At least as it relates to buying SFR's as cash flow vehicles.. you may want to think about small Multi because those will generally always sell for a cap rate if rents increase your value goes up... but you will hold value better in the mid west markets Brie may want to speak to that I think that is what she buys in small multi's  cash flow is better generally and values hold and sell at cash flow numbers. 

 - For roughly the same reason mentioned above, we could see a massive exodus of cash away from REITs and other RE investment vehicles, just was we've seen the massive influx over the last few years.  

Surely you're not saying "Lease options are no longer legitimate vehicles to sell houses." 

The rainy day fund is already a set aside amount of cash that I suppose could be invested in short terms (again boring) CDs or purely safe vehicles. 

I signed up for the 6 months but had to cut it short half way though because of personal vehicle problems so I only marketed for 3 months, honestly I personally don't care!!!

I made the choice to live in a modest home a drive a modest vehicle....