Now our goal is to refinance those properties before the end of the year so my banker can get a big fat bonus and I can get out of high interest.   

Again barriers to entry are steep but finding tenants and getting a nice fat rent check is very possible. 

Doing it the other way, I can get fat returns and acquire 20 properties in the same time frame while still having tons of liquid cash  available.

My fat fingers do more harm than good on this galaxy S5......damn!

They are telling you upfront they are going to be one of the worse tenants you will ever experience.Tell them a big fat "NOOOO",... and pray they get mad and don't sign your lease.

With respect to item #1 don't just focus on the expense side and trimming the fat; focus on ways to increase your income. 

Let me put this into perspective for you…Imagine standing in front of 1000 people that haven't eaten in 41 days, while holding up a juicy BLT chicken and tuna sandwich dripping in bacon fat, and say: “Who wants one?”.

@Greg Gangle it’s safer in my opinion to take your cash and stack it so you have an extra fat reserve account, ie if you pay extra on the mortgage you have to refi, sell or put a Heloc on it to access that equity in the form of real money.

At that point, I will retire with a very fat retirement account. 

There are so many fat bank accounts out there...