You SHOULD care.I owned some businesses when I was your age.I had a car audio shop.The key to any business is that you are passionate about it.If you aren't passionate about it you will not get the stellar results you are seeking.For most businesses 20,000 is not that much for start up.The number one reason for business failure is under capitalization followed by mismanagement a close second.There is a difference between working IN your business and ON your business.Many small businesses such as restaurants,coin laundry,etc. are owner operators.Meaning they make it run day to day but it is not scalable since YOU can only be in one place at one time.Smart operators learn how to scale the business by putting systems and people in place.By doing this you can grow your business and work on it and not in it.

Study MF and business, learn it inside and out, and then partner with an experienced MF investor your first time out.I would have answered differently a couple of years ago, but now see that scalability and a hockey stick chart pattern come quicker with MF, if done correctly.

I know that I've only scratched the surface here, but this niche is definitely worth pursuing due to the fact that it IS real estate investing, but with less headaches (tenants, toilets) and easier scalability.  

This is the approach for investors who have decent salaries and are becoming accredited investors and those who realize that owning multiple rental properties is not scalable, so you move on to private placements and syndications.I'm happy to help, as there aren't many accredited investors on these forums who are actively involved in syndications.

I have heard that they are easily scalable (i.e.

This also lets you access higher returning and/or more stable and/or more scalable property types than most people would be able to afford when investing directly (such as downtown office buildings).The downside of crowdfunding is that currently there are no buy-and-hold investments, which is an important income producing part of your portfolio.

I can't decide whether I'd rather own ever larger and more scalable properties, or whether I'd like to own a large number of SFRs and Small Multifamilies.I see a couple of pros and cons to both approaches:For the investors looking to buy lots of smaller properties, he is able to get to know a specific niche very very well, and hone in on a process that he can repeat over and over again.

Obviously my micromanagement method on this first house will not cut it for future growth and scalability.

It is very scalable, free form, and most importantly; FREE.I plan to setup a Linux server in my home office to host the DB, and if all goes well, I might migrate my properties over to it from quickbooks for some serious analysis.  

I really just want to be as aware as I can be to use my resources the best way I can with scalability in mind with the financing of this endeavor.