You need a STRONG message that is meaningful to your prospective sellers- delivered consistently, through multiple marketing vehicles, frequently and consistently.

Is it a property where you have a ton of untapped equity and tapping it out would make it impossible to cashflow?

The truth is that finding a decent contractor is next to impossible anyways so trying to get them to be ok with some highly structured draw schedule... and then having a seller accept an offer with a weird rehab loan... seemed good in theory but I realized it is so easier to just go traditional. 

I do have a couple of other businesses for cashflow/income, but nothing is as good as RE in terms of an investment vehicle.   

You can refinance and do the same thing.Then there is the business side of rental properties, which lets you deduct many business related expenses (home office, supplies, mileage, etc.) and Section 179 vehicle purchase expenses (and other equipment, for that matter) that are not deductible for purely passive investments.If you hold title in an LLC you can distribute out some income as self employment income, on which you will owe self employment taxes.

Hey Tony, yeah man LA is a bit tricky but not impossible.

If its a brick/stone home it's a tough to impossible fit but the majority of ours have vinyl siding so I just expand or reduce it to fit as necessary.This one was 13x23 single pane.Done

I would absolutely love to start going to meetups but I’m on active duty for a few more years so that would make it impossible. 

How does the average person go from owning just a house and vehicles to taking a step as large as the idea I am talking about?

I wanted to use real estate as a vehicle to become debt-free (besides my mortgages) and I wanted passive income to supplement my pending pension income.