There are some positive signs on the horizon.

For time horizons of 5 years or less, I usually prefer something safe like a HYSA or money-market fund.

Down the road I might use it again but not anytime in the horizon 

If you're already worrying about retiring before you've ever joined the workforce, you need to expand your horizons and consider work that is both meaningful and financially rewarding.

There is too punitive measures and shorter time horizon for that loan to mature and eat away at your equity buffer.

I guess it is just marketing to people with longer horizons than 2 years.

Further, your chances of hitting that cash flow number are much higher finding one or two great value-add apartment deals than it is finding 167 good cash-flowing single family homes (which is an oxymoron in my book...SFRs very rarely cash flow over long enough time horizons). 

Quote from @Melanie Baldridge: If you think about your career and your journey to build wealth over a long time horizon, this is still the strategy that I like most:1.

But there's good news on the horizon...

., with international expansion plans on the horizon.