True freedom, leaving a specific legacy and beomg able to give to causes we care about was why. 

You want freedom, you may not know what that means to you.

You want the freedom to let someone else manage it and still make about cash flow)- Maintenance- 5% or rents (for simple repairs)- Vacancy loss for at least 1 month (but maybe 2 or 3 depending on the area)Your desired ROI is mainly based on your opinion of how much you are paying for the property, the area it's located in, and your initial investment.

But buying back my time and freedom from medicine someday...priceless!

Funneling funds from active to passive over time till the passive can support you entirely 1x,2x,and if lucky 3x (financial freedom).

You can build your own and there are good reasons to do that (i.e. more freedom), but if you are straying very far from those formats you will not get results.

This means your financial knowledge is critical for it is the key to your financial freedom.

This gives me the freedom to take the money through whichever has the better tax advantages. 

It became clear I must acquire equity in deals, use my management skills to destroy competition, and then reinvest my sole earnings early on in lieu of ultimate freedom and success. 

The fact that banks won't loan above appraisal values; will inherently limit the ability of values to increase, at least until appraisers have the freedom to value properties at higher than the absolute average of the adjusted comps (which they will rarely do in a neutral or downward trending market).Think of it this way:If a subject house has three perfect comps, in today's appraisal world, the value of the subject will generally be the average of the three perfect comps.