The debt (unpaid lenders) doesn't go away although the lien got detached from the house with the foreclosure sale.

You know the formula: over time the property appreciates, rents increase, you pay down your debt... along the way you get leverage galore and even tax breaks for depreciation, interest, taxes, etc...So buy a place, rent it and do that for a decade or two (or three or four)......Ka-ching.

I too have been learning and reducing debt for the past year and am ready to pull the trigger.  

I was instantly hooked on all aspects of investing at that point such as finding new properties, looking at comps, negotiating deals, going to auctions and project managing the restoration.

Many Realtors who do not invest themselves are looking more at the appreciation and debt paydown, and dont fully understand the cash flow side of things.  

We've already decided that vacation rental #3 will be a restored vintage trailer that we put in the back yard of vacation rental #2.

I still owe 600K so I will be taking on the same amount of debt.  

They are not going to let you refinance from 180k in debt to 150k in debt.

Your debt to income eventually maxes out!

You have a lot of debt to pay off and that income will finance your real estate.