The average person can totally achieve financial independence easily with education, self-discipline, and consistency. 

Just a FYI you don't need an LLC to do RE investing. if you are looking for the checkbook control then yes you will need one, make sure the custodian you choose explains the prohibited transactions and disqualified person list to you. 

So instead of paying the bank for a home equity line of credit on my first home and paying them interest, I was able to use a personal loan to myself via my employer 403b and pay myself back with interest. 

My personal and professional experience has been that they do not provide actual replacement costs in their evaluations. 

Personally, I like the all-in-one units but they are expensive and poorly suited for larger units where it will take forever to get a load of laundry done (since you can't move the clothes from the washer to the dryer).

I've personally worked with a handful of "investor-friendly" lenders, primarily on DSCR loans in recent years, and each time I've run into significant delays, lack of transparency about the process, have been fed the requirements in a piecemeal fashion (every few days there's a new random request rather than having it all organized from the start), and have even run into lenders who were substantially misinformed about the real estate industry or the laws that govern it on both a local and federal level.I think there should be a better site to encourage accountability by tracking how long it actually takes each lender to close their loans on average, and what unexpected hurdles investors encounter when trying to work with them.I can't seem to find such a site.

I got quoted $1490 yearly cost plus a $30/mo retainer to have unlimited access to my personal real estate accountant.  

Or use their suggested point of entry and reconfigure the footprint.What does their "Better" entry mean to your project footprint?

I share this not to discourage you from embarking on this project with you as a manager, but I flip homes and have seen for myself the incredible savings in time and money that can be activated when you have the right person overseeing the project and who has the relationships with the subs that can make sure to push them and hold them accountable.

You seem like a very intelligent and hardworking person; I'm sure you can come up with a value proposition that is unique to you.