Like many people said before 'cash makes you rich, assets appreciation makes you wealthy."

@Nicholas Moffett I agree with you that multi family investing is the best way to increase your wealth. I

one thing I see is in these bigger cities in the mid west much of the urban core is more renter dominated than other urban cores.and landlords are doing a better job with their work so you don't see as many failed landlords or burnt out landlords as in the past. so that inventory is not hitting the market  Jay that is certainly the case for Milwaukee, landlords are more educated, probably also because of the good work people do on BP and locally, the Brew City - full credit to @Rebecca Knox What puzzles me is that I see the same hesitation in the wealthy suburbs, 350k and up.

Building wealth is hard.

Folks that play in property tend to be successful (more wealthy) and have a stream of "income" that is part CapGain and part taken against depreciation, ie., avoid a lot of taxes.If your company has a match, put in the needed amount. 

Do real estate conventionally, as to what is legal and acceptable in your area, develop a good reputation, be fair, do lots of deals and you'll be wealthy enough for what you did.

I got into it at 19 and saw everything go up up up up from 1998 to 2008 then 90% of every wealthy person I know lost it all.

In the book The millionaire next door, Dr Stanley states that the poor and middle class spend more time working for their money while the wealthy spend more time finding ways for their money to work for them. 

Alongside that question is where in the heck do you find investors if you don't have tons of wealthy friends or family members?

I don't have the answers, but these are the type of questions to ask ... to become wealthy, you'll need to carefully manage your time, energy, and focus as well as money.