All: Thanks for the responses and even those who are suspect about my motives but I'm not selling anything. In fact, I'm not even in RE anymore since I sold my last rental in March. But I had owned rental properties since 1978.
Like one of the other posters said: been there, done that, now who needs the work or liability--my money is in the bank.
That place that got me the ROI I talk about in the OP was in Calexico, CA. A little border town 2 hours east of San Diego in the desert where it hit 107 degrees in the summer all the time!
I bought that place four years ago now for a little over $100K and sold it three years later for almost $200. MY down payment was 20% with ~$2,000 in closing costs. Run the numbers and check my ROI figures for yourself.
My comment as to nay sayers was that there are always people ready to rain on your parade, it takes fortitude to ignore the know-it-alls.
These posts are full of people telling about how other people reacted negatively about their plans to retire early. We are supposed to be people who have done it, if you really have, why would you be so negative about the possibilities that others can do it as well?
The link is just 1000 words detailing the plan in the book, "Financial Independence." It is a simple plan with minimal risk and investment but it won't work in some markets, like San Diego, because the cost of entry is too high now.
But RE will still work if you work the basics because it creates so many streams of income. I don't like using that phrase because of the link to Robert Allen, but that is simply the best wa to describe it:
Price Appreciation
Rent Appreciation
Tax Advantages on Income
Depreciation
Mortgage Paydown
Sweat Equity
No other investment even comes close.
And, by the way, it took me 15 years to dig out but I was not w/o advantages others won't have: a great family that was of tremendous help (my brother let me live w/him rent free for 6 months), 5 degrees, and several years of valuable experience in a solid field. When I went back to work, I was soon earning in the high five-figures and it has steadily climbed.
To that, I added some prudent RE investments. It wasn't a walk in the park but you can't condense 15 years into five lines w/o omitting some details. R/