Similar to buying stocks, when you go to a financial advisor and you are starting out and have time, they put your money into growth stocks...when you are older and need cashflow for your bills...its maybe stocks that pay dividends. 

If for example, assuming I have an empty HELOC, I want to dump a bunch of money into the stock market I would be limited to ~$200k considering HELOCs are not built for LT investing.

Like stocks, rental properties can be more of a long-term investment whereas with wholesaling, one can make quicker money in larger amounts.

@Daniel Lehrman First, I congratulate you for being able to see the benefit of real estate - in my experience, Financial advisors have completely ingested the Kool-aid and aren't able to see anything past a "standard diversified stock portfolio"  I can't even count how many broke financial advisors tried to tell me how I should be investing my money --- but I digress.As a real estate investor, a real estate license can be very valuable to you.... eventually - but don't think that getting your license will get you ready to start investing.  

Taxed like the stock market?

Having invested in the stock market for a while, trying to "time" when to make an investment transaction is extremely difficult.  

As of September 1, 2016, how many REITS were listed on the New York Stock Exchange?

You just paid more for the stock and any liabilities.  

You'll want to be careful to avoid the deferred stock as they're hard to lease & end up costing you more than they're worth if you attempt to bring them out of slum condition.  

Real estate is more like a stock - it has a value that you can get back when you sell.