Here’s my situation.

Montgomery Alabama
Purchased my first property for $107k with the intention to rent it out eventually. Used my VA loan and zero % down to make it happen. This was also the first house I've ever bought. I just finished paying off a bankruptcy from divorce and was feeling pretty good to get a loan for 4.25% in 2019. Lived in it for 2 years and did minor things to spruce it up. Carpet, flooring, paint, fixtures, landscaping. I mean the house was basically in great condition. Even had a brand new roof and young HVAC. Then Covid hit and rates dropped. Couldn't resist that juicy refinance to a 2.75% rate. Made the property ripe for profit. So I refinanced under the VA streamline refinance loan (IRRRL). Refinance was $110k, no down payments and rolled in closing cost into new loan. Won't go into specifics but the refinance allows VA loan users to purchase a 2nd property.

In 2021 rates were still low so I bought a 2nd property to eventually rent out. Property $178k at 2.5% bought using my VA loan with zero% down. I actually offered $174k and rolled my closing cost into the loan. Can you believe that? I offered below asking price in 2021 and my offer was accepted! However, due to crazy high rates and housing inflation, I still live in this house. Rates went up before I was in a place finacially to aquire another property. I also career changed and took a pay cut. I now make double what I use to so I can afford to put money into investing monthly. It’ll make a killer rental one day

First house currently rents for $1275. Mortgage, including insurance, escrow etc. is $589. Currently I do not use any of the leftover money as I have been saving it to create a buffer for CAPEX and maintenance. So far have roughly $10k saved up in the last 2.5 years sitting in a HYSA. Balance on the house is now $101k with comps in the neighborhood between $140-$155k. Everything has gone up in the last few years around this home.

2nd house is $900 (property taxes increase yearly) now. Current rental comps are $1500-$1600 in my neighborhood. Remaining balance is $168k. Selling comps in the neighborhood are $215-$235k

There are very few properties that are cheap these days. Even the rehab ones. I don’t have money saved up except an emergency savings fund. Currently I can save $1500 monthly after bills. Multi door properties are basically non existent near me. So given my situation, what are some clever ideas on how to leverage my current situation into buying another property?

Thanks everyone