But it also means you have virtually zero bargaining power as the seller can reuse any and all repairs and just keep your 6 months of rent as a bonus. 

All it does is creates more competition.2.

Keep the current investment and buy another house hack to live in.

You and the wife could live in 1 side and you could rent the other doors out.

I am currently in the bit of a rutt.

Your cash flow is positive on paper, but how will that look in reality?

There is no SST and makes it easier to house hack 3-4 unit properties and you can use that loan repeatedly while with FHA loans you can only have one at any given time.

I have done it successfully on my last 2 buildouts, maybe 3, but only because I was able to acquire the properties at a very low price and I did all the work in-house (myself and some hired hands on staff).

@Meghan McCollum  - At one point, I had roughly 40 doors in Duluth.

The Austin metro was among the hottest destinations in the country for where people were moving last year, according to the latest annual ranking from U-Haul International Inc.Austin ranked No. 5 among the top U.S. growth metros in 2024, and Texas was the No. 2 state for move-ins — bested from the top spot after three consecutive years by South Carolina, according to data released Jan. 2 and Jan. 3.The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area took the crown for the top growth metro in the recent list, followed by Charlotte, North Carolina (No. 2); Phoenix (No. 3); and, Lakeland, Florida (No. 4).