I understand this is a gamble. 

Make sure that the market you are considering is consistent with your goals, Once you've chosen a market, dive deep and get to know the neighborhoods.

Basically from my understanding , Uncle Robert doesn’t believe in 401K and suggest that it’s better to just invest in REI and control my own destiny rather than the bankers and wealth managers in Wall Street that gambles with my money 💰 if I participate in a 401K program.

While your saving and learning your chosen market, continue to learn the other strategies that you can put into your tool box.

Remember that you want to find a deal that cash flows from Day 1 (with the exception of building in house hacking one unit where you have decreased rent), otherwise you are gambling on appreciation.

Clearly I should have chosen different words.

So people's individual experience regarding closing timelines (30-45 days), paperwork requirements, hassle/headaches, etc is largely the product of dealing with their chosen lender. 

I’d love to play 1 appreciation gamble every two years (buy a 800k house in San Diego or something, rent it at 4-5k, which covers mortgage, and cash flow from other properties for cap ex) and profit at sell off on appreciation in 15 years.That’s another thing I don’t need the cash flow to live off of and I don’t intend to retire on the cash flow in the next few years.

Currently I have chosen to keep a small part of my residential portfolio for diversification and control, but major in investing in syndications of all sorts.

Zero in on the most promising markets, do some high-level comparison, and once you've chosen one, you can start drilling down into the details.