The Quicken prospectus for their IPO hit a few days ago. 36% of their business was from independent brokers, but only 13% of their revenue.

The house is outside of Kansas City, Missouri in Independence, MO, if that helps.

I have no W2 employees, and all the 1099 income I paid was to independent contractors who did work on my properties, but they do not have an employee employer relationship with me. 

There is a reason some 75% or more (I forget the exact statistic) of real estate agents stop within the first year (and I think another 50% drop out in the second year). 

Try to connect with local agents to get market demographics or statistics.

This pandemic has reaffirmed my goals of early financial independence and spending more time with my family. 

I don't have any regrets, as it allowed me to do this independently. 

Paul GettyIf money is your hope for independence you will never have it.

While it's possible that you may at some point be forced to dip into this reserves while the market is down, statistically speaking as long as you stay consistent then you will come out way ahead.I also have a guaranteed military job, so my paycheck is always coming in which allows me to take more risks than others would potentially feel comfortable with.  

I heard a podcast a while ago and the guy had focused exclusively on them, nickle and dimed his way into financial independence.