The cash flow houses help me to hold on for the long haul, while the appreciation houses enable me to buy more houses.  

If you own two houses, you don't have toys. 

I'm toying with an idea for a system that would handle guest communication workflows using AI, analyze the feedback, and also trigger surveys post-stay/review for tracking performance.As far as I can tell, there's nothing out there that does those 3, but perhaps there are separate services that provide some or more of those.

I predicted a 20 to 30 percent correction in prices this year, and I was dead wrong.It appears that investors are continuing to come in for the long haul, with the knowledge that positive cash flow isn't realistic in the early years of ownership.

At 6.41% your refinance is not really gonna help you and I would only refinance if you are in it for the long haul due to the costs of refinancing. 

Many wont even live till 60.People get blinded by the new shiny toy that they forget, REAL ESTATE IS THE RETIREMENT VEHICLE so why put a retirement vehicle into another retirement vehicle which you can't even enjoy until you're dead or crippled with medical issues.

@Haley ElisabethYou are not missing anything but there is what I would call good debt and bad debt.For example if I buy a property cash, rehab it and it has a $300,000 value and can be used as a rental and provide cash flow - getting a $150k loan on that asset to buy another (not blow it on toys) say $300k asset I have 2x future appreciation than one asset.

Who has a direct lender I can go to? Yes

Just plain lack of experience over the long haul.5.

I have been toying with the idea of becoming financially independent through real estate for a few years and even gave a crack at becoming an agent last year, but never took the time to figure out exactly what direction I wanted to go.