I have been working in the financial services industry for almost 10 years now and thus had quite some exposure to other areas of investing (from private markets to public markets).

i.e. his cash your services he or she needs

As these areas continue to improve you'll get appreciation and that will give you options.

They pay for the trash service but the dumpster is on my property.  

As soon as you can comfortably do it after you close on an improved property get the exterior door locks changed.  

<-- income capped, meaning middle class and modest income only, but HUGE for those below the threshold.Mortgage interest deduction.Property tax deduction.Being able to write-off maintenance/repairs on your rental properties.For Californians, Prop 13 is a huge boon to buy-and-hold REI.There's a reason that entire books, intended for the middle class and others that aren't paying $10k/yr for CPA services, have literally been written about how to maximize tax goodies associated with owning real estate. 

oh and THANK YOU for your service.

If I'm right about paying no tax on a land contract for an amount exactly what I paid plus all improvements, then I'd rather do that than take the hit on the sale.  

However, I went to the first meeting and the main speaker was an out-of-town guy giving a super high-pressure sales job for some MLM program called "Financial Education Services Protection", which didn't actually have anything to do with real estate, other than he was pitching us to pressure credit challenged prospects into buying this (my opinion) predatory program.

If you're not willing to cramp your style enough to plex hack, let's see if you can do small things every day to improve yourself.Rates on the cards and car don't matter.