Client rents that house and makes 1k monthly profit, plus has a really good paying job.

He knows his stuff and is really good at making IG videos: his brand is a very clever mix of being super humble, telling everyone profits are less than you think and then flashing some fat $$ he made by selling to his investors.

I bought a 16 unit apartment complex that was a expense nightmare, with low rents, that I eventually gave up trying to make profitable. 

Keep in mind the more you write off the less money you will show as you net.If you have (2) full years and depending on how the accountant files your taxes you will have a schedule C more than likely or another schedule that shows profit and loss.

Any profits from the flip return to the SDIRA tax-free or tax-deferred.

Build up your portfolio with a professional landlord and then as your portfolio grows transfer the assets over to a larger PM firm for ongoing accounting and management. 

Others put down larger downpayments to make the cashflow work.

I live in Sacramento, and have noticed that people are offering either equal or above asking price even for homes that sometimes need 80-100k in repairs and I can't see how they would even make a profit doing that.

Account Closed our world is trending to more & more "immediate gratification".Self-showings are the result of this and owners squeezing PMC's profits to nothing.Regarding the PMA, ours is pretty long to cover everything we can realistically think of - yet, many owners freak out about it and hire a PMC with a shorter contract.How would you be reacting right now if someone had broke into your property and stole these things?

Larger brokerages sometimes are in need of administrative work, which could earn you a steady income while also getting exposure to the field.