Since you are in a wealthy and competitive city, that might just be your best bet.

Having debt is always more risky than having not debt but applying this type of low risk techniques is the difference between becoming extremely wealthy and just wealthy.

I do have wealthy family members, but not any that are willing to help.

@Joshua DaviesA lot of wealthy foreign individuals become shareholders in a Corporation who ultimately invests in the partnership fund.example.Joshua Davies, LLC has 2 memebrs in his LLC; Joshua Davies and International Corp, IncThe shareholders in International Corp, Inc. are International Investor 1 and International Investor 2.When money is distributed by the Corporation to the investor - it is no longer rental income; it is dividend income.The Partnership is now not required to withhold or file form 1042 since the member is not a foreign partner.The international investors avoid having to file a US tax return because they are receiving dividend income instead of "rental income"There are some pros/cons associated with this approach.Possibly more administrative costs(registering of corp), filing of corporate tax return etc.however, many foreign investors like this approach.

With the larger companies, someone miles and miles away makes the decisions and its usually a very wealthy person who has not 'needed' income for decades.  

To coin a phrase by Matt Theriault, get rich by buying Real Estate, but become wealthy buy holding it.

The property I am attempting to buy is in a very nice wealthy neighborhood in central Illinois, however, It doesn’t have a single renter occupying the property at the moment.

So let's take a step back and first consider how long it normally takes to be wealthy. 

When I was 18 I decided real estate was the vehicle to wealth I would dedicate all my time into mastering.

Hard money lenders are often wealthy business people (either investors themselves, or professionals such as doctors and lawyers who are looking for a good return on their saved cash).