buying a fixer and renovating with sweat equity is probably the best/cheapest way for a poor person to build wealth in this country

The experienced folks, have done the heavy lifting, squeezing, sweat equity for a few bucks and hour and have gotten to a place where they just don't want/have to do that anymore.  

We were still 50/50 partners, but on the returns and money I would be putting in along with getting return mine was a lot smaller and sweat equity was higher.

Using talents (sweat equity), not money. 2.

My wife has given me full discretion to price the medium term rentals as there is already built-in regular turns and often these are traveling professionals whose employers are footing the bill, so my wife doesn't sweat taking company's money versus individuals.

They provide the down money and you provide the sweat equity. 

Being able to fix up a property and add sweat equity works really well in conjunction with a house hacking strategy. 

Finally, look into house hacking as this is a really great way to gain sweat equity in a property that can be captured in a tax advantaged way every couple of years. 

Luckily with 100% sweat equity, we came out of it ok.

Comparing the live-in flip approach to refinancing, the former offers the potential for higher profits through sweat equity but demands significant time and effort for renovations and alternative living arrangements during the process.