Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.

None of this has anything to do with your personal tax return.

Hard money lenders focus more on the property’s value rather than your personal debt to income ratio (which traditional banks use) allowing for quicker approval and funding.

The first is having a personal portfolio of 5 passive rental properties, not including my residence.

Quote from @Scott MacComb: I am doing my first true house flip (have remodeled plenty of houses for rental) and am trying to figure out a contract to use with a new general contractor whom I have not worked with previously. 

Over the years, with personal investment alongside investments from family and friends, I’ve been able to build a small portfolio of apartment buildings with a focus on cash flow through strong operations.

Like @John Underwood said, your cleaner and handy person can be of great help getting things done.

They say the average amount of water per day a person uses is 80 to 100 gallons , Lets call it 60 to be conservative .

Do they do any of this in house? 

@Tim Holt, Yes INDEED house hacking is the best option for most 1st time buyers.