Explain it to me like I'm 5: How do you get rich in real estate? Seems like it takes many many years to get positive cash flow.

[Tyler W.]

Please help clear my mind from my skewed point of view of how REI works.

My goal is to buy a multiplex apartment building and live in one of the units. 

So I'm guessing that I'd have to put something like $50,000 down for that. That might take me 3 to 5 years to save. So I got the property, and I'm cash flowing a few hundred dollars a month. That's it?!? All that hard work for a few hundred dollars of "free" money? 

How do people make millions of dollars in passive income? Either they have to come from a family with money to bring big down payments to the table, or they have to save and save and live like a hobo for 30 years to build up enough cash flow. 

Convince me otherwise. I probably sound really stupid to a lot of you, but this is the beginner's forum, after all.