We have similar goals of reaching financial independence within around 10 years.

Always get your own independent agent.

Reading past, you commented that you would be an employee of a broker....no, you are an independent agent, the broker will give you enough leeway to act as independently as possible in meeting the business relationship.

Hi Anson,In other words, you're an independent real estate agent and have more control?

Each office is managed independently and has its own quirks but it is fairly competitive, especially if you are an agent who produces enough to cap.

We'll probably drive them both into the ground :) When we succeed in financial independence, we will reward ourselves, but until then, our spending is all about ROI and neither of us care that much about what we drive.

With two specific comments only:- reverse exchanges are more complex but are pretty clean with the IRS and definitely do not constitute tax evasion- this is not the 1st time you stated that "bonus depreciation has made 1031s obsolete", and I continue to disagree, because these two strategies are independent, serve very different purposes and can often be combined

To keep their independent contractor status, the trades people do need to work for others - at least occasionally.  

As to timing, the beauty of real estate investing is that it can be done in such a way that it is completely independent of your location, even if you are managing the property yourself. 

However, my family member that is financially independent and is sitting on a sizable amount of liquid assets (mainly cash, brokerage, and penalty free distributions from retirement accounts since they are of age) that has always wanted to purchase a rental property.