You must also consider that you are paying the mortgage off (with the tenants rent each month), so it's not like you are only paying the down payment back with the positive cashflow you're receiving...you are gaining equity each month too, and optimally a some appreciation on the property each year.Take a look through this http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing/financing and run the numbers to see what your returns would be.  

Yes, you can probably hire enough project managers and topnotch contractors so that you don't have to be quite as "hands on", but it will cost you dearly, and it is not the way to optimize profits. 

My strategy is that buying at the bottom AND buying foreclosures at trustee sales or as REOs, I will optimize my purchasing power by getting the lowest prices possible, enabling me to wind up owning let's say 5 rather than 4 rental properties.Does this make sense now or is my thinking still off?

Here are some reasons that adding an ADU is often a non-optimal RE investment:1) The value added by the ADU addition is often significantly less than the cost of adding the ADU.

Your key words get less expensive the better your site is optimized for them.

People in my business tend to optimize for a lower number of clicks, so including the content in the email is a good idea.I use Mailchimp to manage my lists.

I am very interested to try and optimize as much as possible especially since I will be remote with this property.

Or just holding and optimizing?

I know there is a point of optimization for accomplishing my goals.

I may have picked a less optimal time to begin investing in real estate but rates are still on the lower end and I'd like to take advantage.