This is going to keep your bid honest, rather than lazier and keep your cash position stronger. 4) The only time you spend in this, is finding & closing on the quality assets and playing devil's advocates for repair/rehab/fixing costs.

It's hard to harvest equity on these plays, unless you commit, long-term, towards very light leverage, as the only practical ways to benefit from the equity in your portfolio, if you plan to never sell it, only exchange it, for a lifetime, are to spend the cash flow, or cash out refi.

I give it ten or so years before we start seeing this play out. 

They are too close for comfortable game play.

Deception and perception play a major negative role.

Based on your advice to newer investors, should I play the long term game by paying off my house early (2030)?

You may just stumble into seller financing if play your cards right.

Maybe talk to the city and see what the process is.Now of course you don't know how things are going to play out.

The play is that rather than having to wait until the foreclosure process is completed, the investor can rent out the property (and earn a return - after rehabbing it, of course) during the process.

And a single or double play is awesome.