Buying physical assets is unlikely to lose principal unless you're over leveraged...To me, the control is more valuable with direct investments, passive investments are for later in my career.I agree that I'd rather have control. 

I agree, talk with local banks about it. 

@Mark Fries That is beside the point, but I agree.

(Scenario): I find a seller, he agrees to sell his house to me at a good price, I plan to assign the contract to an end buyer.

All four of us agreed upon him only being paid 30% of whatever profit is received.

I agree with @Greg Kurzner about managing yourself.

We do some back and forth and eventually, my agent gets me to agree to $70k plus paying the closing costs (another $1,000 or so).

But I agree, having a solid "team" is super helpful.

@Colby Todd - Agreed!

I agree with Marcus, you’ll definitely want to make sure you have boots on the ground that you can trust here and that understand the different neighborhoods, etc.