This has a cost but nothing close to what you’d have to pay investors in a pool, which is something else you mentioned.

You might still make some money...or you might loose just a little while you learn....but I think chances are unless you totally mess things up or every part of the deal goes wrong, you end up with most of your money back....AND you learn and develop some relationships.

Everyone else is typically just happy to have something there for them.I'm sure others have differing opinions but this has worked great for me.

if someone else comes along and wants to put 50% down on a great property, and they have sufficient cash and reserves, great!

Assuming everyone else is experiencing the same?

The 3rd thing that has reshaped my entire opinion of the tax advantages of real estate, is seeing my 88 grandfather holding five quite valuable illiquid properties, long story short it’s a mess, it’s causing family drama, he is in zero shape physically or mentally to manage them, the all have cap-ex needs, again these were amazing buy’s literally multiple properties he bought for under 50k that are now worth over a million but there is probably a time and a place for owning real estate, so I don’t really have a need to own more than maybe a few properties into retirement.

Quote from @Chris Primavera: I am located in Ohio and like many people I have researched and read about, tired of the 9-5 grind and putting money into someone else's pockets.

I need something else, but is there another product out there that has the property profile capability?

A “1031 exchange investor” would be someone who’s already selling something and wants to buy something else.

Generally, you shouldn’t pay off your mortgage early unless you can pay all of it off. it’s better to have it as reserve (in case of lost job etc) and given the typically low rate you can generally get a better return else where.