You could very will spend that $50,000 and in the end just have some notes and notebooks and nothing to show for the money?

If I were in your position, I would keep things as simple as possible and focus on building equity to save money for my next property.

I'm thinking of using that same money to potentially buy a rental property that could yield more and appreciate in value over the years.

There are some areas that will never cash flow, rather where you will get a return on your money is through appreciation when you sell.

I've been looking for hard money lenders and agents to work with, so if you have recommendations to look into, let me know. 

How do you intend to make money once you quit your W2? 

I am currently in a very high interest hard money mortgage that balloons in September 2025.

Funny thing is that the agent saw how much I liked it and tried to buy it herself but then last minute her money fell through so she came back to me and I had 2 weeks to buy it before probate got involved.

We sold 2 properties and did a 1031 exchange and used a combination of hard money and private financing to acquire the building.

Lots of schedule Es I can not read or understand.I obviously know my rent "income" and my costs (especially since I make NO positive cash flow money on it and mostly loose money (last year I lost "only" -$1175) so i want to know what i made in appreciation versus how much I lost per year for the past 20 years.