Finding it really hard to get decent hard money.

Beginning to pay down properties more aggressively will help get to not only having more income coming thru each month; but also help me when I am ready to maybe buy more down the line with less mortgages tied to my name?   

Quote from @Alyssa Dinson: Hi everyone, I live in California and have been meeting a lot of investors who prefer to invest out of state due to California being so expensive as well as the aggressive tenant protection laws we have here.

@Chad Verde depends on your risk tolerence.Your avatar pic shows your family, so you shouldn't be as aggressive as if you were single.You should keep some decent reserves and take your time finding a motivated seller deal, so you get a good price.

New build maybe a bit aggressive getting into real estate unless you have a builder as a partner in a deal to see the full steps or stages that go into new builds.Why new build?

Both are decent in both appreciation and have decent properties that clear the 1% rule. 

Those jurisdictions are notoriously aggressive in researching and pursuing offenders so you want to be extremely cautious.

This year is the first year I will qualify as a real estate professional and be able to take some aggressive deductions through things like cost segregation studies.

If Fayetteville is a seasonal market, I would get very aggressive on price so you can get someone in before Winter. 

You are required to file a complete and accurate return, which means reporting the income that you earned along with atleast the direct expenses that you incurred on your rental.There are two comflicting forces - Your tax accountant wants to be aggressive with deductions because it will entitle you to paying less taxes(now or in the future).Your lender wants to see as much income as that will increase your Debt to Income Ratio(DTI).The good thing is that you can speak with your lender about 'one time expenses', that were only incurred in that year and are not reoccuring.