The cash flow without appreciation markets (i.e. the Midwest markets) have a hard time scaling with inflation, is too small cash flow to make a significant impact to CA investors, can be a pain in the butt (building trusted team, potentially poor tenants, potential hidden cap expenses, potential Mother nature issues, etc.).What is good cash flow after all expenses in the Midwest after accounting for all costs including cap expenses? 

That will also help my decision making. 

We made a decision to go all cash, because most of our properties are priced in the $50-70K price range, and most lenders don't want to mess with that. 

There is a lot of turnover in contractors that work for HD, because HD really squeezes all the profit out and leaves the contractors with little $ for their effort, so they cut a lot of corners wherever they can in an attempt to actually make some $, and then they quit after a few poorly done projects that nobody except HD benefits from. 

The consumer is making an uneducated decision because they are only given half of the info.

(We do not give tax, legal, or investment advice; you, the account holder, make the investment and strategy decisions.) 

I am currently reading "rich dad poor dad" and "the ultimate beginners guide to real estate investing".

There are people who misused their IRAs and lost money are a result of making poor investment choices or violating the rules and getting their IRAs disqualified, therefore losing money to taxes and penalties.

Plenty of money to be made by the big players, they just make different analysis decisions.

Something that I implemented that has also been helpful is the "profit first" method, or the  "rich dad, poor dad" method of paying yourself first.