For scaling your portfolio, consider house hacking another multi-family property to minimize living expenses while building equity.

I know becoming a part time agent is one way, but where we live in south Florida seems to be overfilled with agents and I don't think its a great fit for us right now. 

If you are willing to live in urban areas you may want to talk to a local bank in your market and see if they have any incentives or grant loans for certain areas.  

In the last 2 months I was receiving a lot of deals in my email account and I received a "great deal" from a small wholesaler; 2 hours later the same property address showed up in an email from one of the "big wholesale companies" 10k dollars more expensive... the property was gone even before I could call the small wholesaler.I believe both are useful and all of us need to make a living, so I understand their role in this business.

We live up in Shasta lake.

Our lot is fenced in and we cannot see where he lives but close enough to be of concern, but we want to stay in the same town until the kids are finished school.So, my question is this, would it make sense to rent our home (roughly $2300-2500/mo. as per real-estate agent claims), with the stipulation that the garage is used for my business AND buy a home nearby?

I’ve fixed leaks, change toilets and still keep going up.I’m at appoint now when I moved out, I thought I’d be making money because while I lived there  I’d be going even.

We paid off our primary home last year and have been slowly getting the courage to jump into the investing market where we live in the Pacific Northwest.

From my experience working with over 400 investors, consider alternative strategies like rent-by-the-room, buying an SFH with an ADU, or renting where you live while investing elsewhere.

Consult someone who actually knows what they are talking about/does this for a living, but most of your tax savings are only going to offset the earnings of the partnership rather than one of you individually.