What an investor gives up though is tax bene's and the chance ( well at least proforma wise) that you bought at X cap rate and can sell at Y cap rate and there is a big profit that is added on to your returns. 

Like I see how it could work in a perfect world but i cant wrap my head around the idea that I could be making a profit if I still don't actually own the house and still have to pay down all of the loans.

When you put that in terms of a percentage of your net profit - that is 40% of your net profit going to the PM.

A good deal won’t matter if your contractor delays the timeline, eating into profits through holding costs.

I have an 8+ac parcel in Dripping Springs, TX (outside of Austin) that has two small STRs built on it. Both units are approximately 400 sqft, "yurt-style" cabins with large decks. We have 2 full years of revenue histo...

Quote from @Brandon Foster: Hello Ryan,STR is do able in the north county area but there are a lot of rules and regulations.The city of Oceanside right now will not allow anything STR unless it’s west of pacific coast hwy.This is changing a lot too so you need to be aware of that in your plans.Carlsbad is super strict too but there are some condos that are still available to do STR in.Medium term rentals are as safer bet but way less profitable.

That profit will increase over time and improve your return. 

I'm managing D class properties with a property manager and am making a profit. 

That data would be sales price after remodel (the true numbers some agents really don't have the experience to be comping the property), the days on market you will experience (this is great info because you want to recycle the money quickly), and resources to sell the place fast not slowly which you do not want this because this could put your holding costs extremely high and push the property to little profit or no profit. 

In Summary: Wall Street and the stock market is handing other people your money, hoping after you let them make a ton on it no matter which way it goes, that end of day you will be left with what you put in and profit to make it worth it's while.