While I'm not in Illinois, I can tell you that you're in the right place searching for knowledge and professionals on this platform!

Apartment buildings or maybe mobile home parks? 

You probably want to start looking at large assets such as Apartments or even Mobile Home Parks.

But I am still curious what are other people's experience with these platforms.

Not only does multi-family has depreciation, but also mobile home parks.

A few questions:1) can a "singular" non-modular mobile home get over my house and into the backyard? 

I think a good technology platform would go a long ways in helping you manage this.

Maybe at year 10, I might only be at $15K monthly, but I'd jump $5K in the last year because I bought an apartment building or mobile home park.Otherwise, would I consider averaging $2K per year in new cash flow as a goal?

Yes, Ridgway is very expensive, also Modulars/Mobiles don't appreciate as well and its harder to lend on them, especially if they are older.

Some parameters that come to mind are:1) Risk Tolerance2) Direct investing versus investing in a fund3) Strategy e.g. value-add, ground up development, etc4) Asset Class e.g. multifamily, self-storage, mobile homes, student housing, senior living etc5) Geographical Area6) Hold PeriodIf you can apply these filters in advance it will leave you with a much more focused pool of sponsors that you can then due-diligence in detail, including asking the BP community for specific feedback.