This creates two loan payments ($100,000 of equity and $300,000 on the new mortgage).Key NumbersHome Equity Loan Interest Rate: 6%Mortgage Interest Rate: 7%Rental Income: $3,000 per monthExpenses (management, taxes, insurance, maintenance): $800 per monthIncome and ExpensesMonthly Rental Income: $3,000Monthly Expenses: $800Monthly Mortgage Payment: $2,000ExplanationThe investor earns $3,000 in rent each month.They pay $2,000 on the investment property mortgage and $800 on other expenses.This leaves $200 profit each month or $2,400 per year.However, you have to pay $6,000 interest on the equity borrowed.This leaves you with an annual loss of $3,600.This example shows that while the rental property generates positive monthly income, the interest cost of borrowing the initial $100,000 results in an overall annual loss.

Here’s my strategy and the issue:Current Strategy:Buy a property for $200k with cash.Refinance after 6 months to recover $150k, leaving $50k in the property.Use the recovered $150k to invest in another property, but I need to save up more money to repeat this process.Alternative with Hard Money:Use hard money to buy properties worth up to $800k.Refinance them later to recover my initial investment.For the hard money scenario, obviously I wont be buying them all at once, but rather buy a property worth 350 -> refi -> get HML -> repeat, until my money has ran out.However, hard money can’t be used for cash offers directly, as it’s typically a loan.

(especially for those involved on this website)The reason I mention if it matters on this website is because most are real estate investors(long term buy and hold) and will most likely operate at a tax loss which doesn't have an impact on taxes.The second point is, will you invest or not invest in a good investment because of what your tax rate is?

A complete loss of value is unlikely, but possible.

So, any excess effort in dealing with it is likely wasted as it won't be recovered from the tenant.

From the leads and SMSing sellers, I know there's alot more deals in the FSBO/expired area as stress, recession,  job loss (hope not), and interest rates stay this high.   

Since the property has increased in value due to your rehab efforts, you can often refinance for more than what you originally paid, recovering your initial investment.Repeat: After refinancing, you've effectively used none of your own money, but now have equity in a cash-flowing property.

If your income exceeds $150,000, your ability to deduct passive losses from rental properties is limited, and any disallowed losses carry forward to future years under the passive activity loss rules.Yes, the deductions can accumulate and roll over year after year.

Luckily most of my tenants only pay $50 a month of their portion so its not worth the loss of the 98% I get paid directly from the state. 

.- for example, although SPY lost 28% their value in 202, but as total return, my portfolio is flat because my dividend income is offsetting the market gain losses.- what I am trying to say is that, if you are a "professional fund manager", you could create your set of portfolio that could beat the market , in this situation , the 401k is even less important.