Others don't start until later in life, after they have already accumulated a significant of wealth they want to keep protected.

I'm always fascinated with the amount of junk/stuff people accumulate over time and the before/after pictures after a clean up. 

The reason being is that absentee leads are mailed by just about every investor and DFD leads are seldom mailed becuase they take a long time to accumulate.  

Ultimately, I'd like to accumulate multiple properties to provide enough cash flow to retire and dedicate my time to my hobbies (e.g. opening a microbrewery!). 

You could have a property that does not qualify for a LTCG and still qualify for a Section 1031.Also on the back end the acquired property does not have to be held long term, but if not held long term you would either have to do another 1031 or pay the accumulated taxes upon the sale of theacquired property.

My objective is to accumulate a portfolio of SFH/MFH over the next couple years, learn from these smaller deals, network in my region, and then potentially moving into more serious deals (either commercial or rentals with more doors.

After accumulating cash flow over time, I would use the capital gained to finance house flipping. 

So far my wife and I have accumulated 5 properties in the Baltimore 21213 and all properties are rented.Our next step in our 5 year plan up to now was to procure a portfolio loan form a smaller bank.

Many wholesalers and investors continually aggregate lists of potential buyers for properties they accumulate.  

So I guess my question is that if our goal is more long term capital appreciation vs. rental income, does it make sense to buy and accumulate a portfolio of properties even though there's not any cash flow to speak of?