The folks I know who do it successfully all fit into these categories: Class A/B properties in great locations with high tenant demand and quality tenant base.Owner used to live in the area, or in the property, or has close relatives or friends nearby/ personal connections and familiarity to the area.Owner is well capitalized/ can absorb negative cashflow indefinitely.Without the above, the risk increases substantially. 

Prices are high, rates are high, and cashflow is tighter than it was a few years ago.

I know many that are successful at it, and the high profit margins are great for scaling.

They’re just hitting colleague request in high volume to as many people as they have the motivation to click on.

It's a lot more hands-on, of course, but by rehabbing the property, they "force" the equity themselves instead of just waiting on the market.The rehab is a medium to high including some high ticket items on it.When it comes time to refinance, even if they can't pull all of their cash back out, they've often created their 20% equity stake (or more) through the rehab.

Hot Rods on Houghton/I-10 is willing to host the event in the upstairs bar/seating area on Wednesday evenings, but it is $200 for less than 20 people, and that is food and drinks included. 

I believe for the patient mostly passive RE investor that leveraged RE can do well but1) residential RE is not passive, especially compared to index funds and etfs.2) because non commercial residential prices are near an all time high, interest rate is near high for this century, rents are all time worse compared to costs (per 2 recent studies) that you would be entering RE at a challenging time and a time were most RE will not produce the returns that were easy to achieve prior to 2022.3) RE provides diversification, but may not far exceed the returns from passive options.  

And a 49% DTI is still extremely high by the way.

My 3rd project was a ground new construction project in the Chicago Bucktown neighborhood.I'd highly suggest getting in touch with some active developers and spending as much time with them as possible. 

It is a high reward activity with the same amount of work that needs to be done, whether you do all yourself or outsource to other people.