Lenders are not giving out these loans to help doctors create rental real estate empires.

By holding onto those properties, you'll be savoring the sweet taste of appreciation and cash flow, laying the foundations of a solid empire for generations to come.A long-term mindset is key to building lasting wealth in real estate.

If I didn't have kids the story might be different, but my time is better spent with them than trying to grow a real estate empire.

The first one that comes to mind is do you plan to keep working while building your real estate empire?  

It does not seem to be up to date for the Los Angeles or Inland Empire areas for homes sold on the market.  

Seems worth it though, so I'm not running around trying to piece things together an build my own empire of employee and agents, etc.

If you have the other income and can afford to keep rolling your RE profits and additional money into growing your RE empire for the long term then there is no rule saying that you shouldn't or can't do that.

Here's two episodes I might start with on your STR/MTR decision journeyBuying in Overlooked Short-Term Rental Markets https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-948The Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Medium-Term Rental Empire https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-780If you like those two episodes, please feel free to reach out to me for more, there's a good amount of STR/MTR BiggerPockets podcasts and content.

Aloha @Kaleb Ahonen - my team and I take an Off Market/Distressed Property approach in the Inland Empire, San Diego, Orange County and LA. 

Much slower than utilizing a HELOC, but I’m not trying to build an empire and just have a passive income source that eventually allows me to spend my time where I find meaningful.