Most investors talk about cash-flow and appreciation like two competing religions.

[Emanuel Stafilidis]

Most investors talk about cash-flow and appreciation like two competing religions.

Pick a side.

Make your sacrifices.

Hope the market rewards your faith.

That mindset showed up again in this BiggerPockets article: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/should-you-invest-for-cash-flow-or-appreciation-in-2026?utm_campaign=11.18.25_REINewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=lterable&utm_channel=28425&utm_content=Marketing&user_id=

The article lays it out clearly.

On one side, you’ve got the cash-flow loyalists.

On the other, the appreciation purists.

And in the middle, a cautious recommendation to blend both and pray you find the right balance in 2026’s unpredictable landscape.

The analysis is solid, but it left me thinking; What if you didn’t have to choose at all? What if there were a strategy where cash-flow and appreciation weren’t rivals but partners? What if both outcomes were actually baked into every deal, intentionally, from the moment you acquire the property?

That’s the part most investors never experience, and frankly, it changes everything. When I buy a home for around $30K and sell it on terms for $70K or even $90K, that difference is not a hope or a prediction. It's appreciation locked in on day one. Contractual. Defined. Real.

And when that $70K is paid back over time through monthly payments that mirror local rents, it turns into predictable cash-flow. Not renter-dependent cash-flow. Not maintenance-heavy cash-flow. But structured income backed by a real family who wants to own their home.

This is where the feeling kicks in. Because once you experience a model where appreciation and cash-flow work together instead of against each other, you stop thinking like a landlord and start thinking like the bank.

You stop chasing markets and start controlling outcomes.

The article says investors should “find the balance.”

I say you should build a system where balance is automatic.

[Marcus Auerbach]

There is a large segment of new investors who make it all about cash flow and replacing their W2. And that's the pipedream. As a rule of thumb, cash flow is about 7% of equity, so you need equity first. And in the millions, before cash flow becomes meaningful.

You are right, it's always about balance. You need both to be succesful, even though I have been in camp equity and I am doubling down now even more. Cash flow keeps the lights on, allows you to grow. But I have never taken cash flow out of the portfolio, it always went back into growth and improvements. That's how compounding works. 

As soon as you start milking your portfolio, your growth stalls.