Instead of the appreciation, you can make a return on your investment each year instead of waiting many years to sell for a large sum.In summary, the primary distinction lies in the investment goals and time horizons.

Expand this horizon to 20, 30 or 50 years and the numbers become insane.  

Indeed, low interest rates and affordable property costs are not on the horizon.

It's been difficult so far to find anything in a great elementary school district for under $100K - pretty much everything has been rehabbed to some extent and is running $110K - 150K (at the low end) or much more for nicer properties.At first, I figured I could still take out the HELOC on my Charleston home and then rent my house out, as gross income (rent - PITI+PMI+HOA) would be $660 and the house is only 8 years old, so I would hope no major repairs/expenses would be on the near horizon.

One other thing to consider is that if interest rates are rising there would be inflation in the market or on the horizon.

The flipping & lending businesses have been great these last 10 years or so, but there are now clouds on the horizon.

Within some time horizon we need to be prepared to meet liquidity requirements under this 'bad' scenario.I'd be really curious on others thoughts here. 

With new, higher rents coming on the horizon, the section 8 housing market looks to gain in your area, no matter how large the section 8 population actually is.According the Kansas City Housing Authority website, "a family cannot pay more than 40% of it's gross income towards housing and utilities."  

Also, any meetups on the horizon?

While reviewing the forum discussions, see if you can sharpen your investment objective: narrow the geographic location, decide how much money you have (and want ) to invest, think about your time horizon, the type of investment (SFH vs a condo) etc.