You save money because you don't have to buy them but you have to do the work that the farmer does like plant, prune, fertilize, de-weed, water and harvest (in exchange for the saving).It is up to each individual if they decide that the work they will put in equals or overweight the money they will save.

I want to continue investing but have since found that the single family has sucked up all my resources due to the large monthly payment.The home in the north shore has over 200k in equity and produces solid rents , I really do not want to sell the property as I am speculating this home to continue being a cash cow into the future.

I have about $100k in equity in my primary residence and was thinking about doing a cash-out refi to purchase a rental.

I am interested in tapping into my home equity to invest in my first rental property,I have approx 200k in equity in my house but I just started my own company in Aug '15 so I don't have a long history of proven income.

So call it $25,000 you're all in on something that cash flows $300/month, you got yourself $25,000 in equity, some tax sheltered passive income, not to mention what it accrues in equity over the coming decades as you pay the principal loan done.  

I'm not clear why you would take on the risk of owing a property with basically no cash flow unless you have some reason to believe that it has built in equity or strong appreciation potential.

Even then it is harder as many focus on buy and hold investors for cash flow as they buy higher priced properties and you do not have to work really hard to find a below market deal where a rehab and flip will work.For instance if an agent finds a deal with 20k built in equity that can work nicely with some cash flow for a buy and hold investor plus the agent might pick up property management fees and income if they want it.

I have a friend going this route right now and once the house is complete, he'll move in and have $30k+ in equity off the bat. 

I have two properties now, each with about 200k in equity.

My wife and I own 4.5M worth of RE and have about 1.75M in equity.