., commissions and carry costs; (2) keep the construction costs down, with large buying power and in-house construction teams, then it could work theoretically.

Part of these funds has already been ear marked for renovating our house to create an Airbnb unit, which will help the financial freedom goal, but that's not the focus of this question...

I work closely with an investor-focused super-agent/broker here in Atlanta!!

Personally, I focus on having sufficient reserves available to get me thru a soft patch. 

When I was focused in on the Atlanta market, it was extremely competitive.

The real estate focused CPAs on Bigger Pockets are all set up to serve clients from anywhere in the country or world.Perhaps you might want a CPA that specializes in real estate rather than one that is physically close to you?  

I would say it is really only useful if you want to do it full time, even if you only want to do it full time for a year or two and then focus more on your own company.  

The focus should be on finding great deals.

And most of all, continue to educate yourself, and that will help you see where you need to go and what you need to focus your research on.

I wouldn't worry about artificial goals set by the internet, just focus on what reasonable for you.