Lenders usually want to see a history of income or may only count a portion of it — and whether you're managing it actively or passively can affect how that income is treated for loan qualification and taxes.

So unless you’re offsetting a significant portion of your living expenses or planning to hold long term for appreciation, it might not be the best cash-flow play.Out-of-State Rentals or Multifamily?

Similar sized homes in that area sell in the 250K to $300K range after they are fixed up. 

Since you live in one half of the duplex and rent the other half as a short-term rental (STR), only the rental portion is eligible for depreciation.

I would rotate testing a couple(make sure it's a large enough size to gauge results).

You'll need to contact an engineering/architectural company in the area to help you subdivide the lots by size, based on what you are trying to achieve. 

Some advantages were we didn't need a realtor which saved us on fees and I was able to carry a seller 2nd for a short period of time on a portion of the portfolio. 

@Jeremy Jareckyj  have a lot of my savings currently in stock and another portion in a high yield , be i definitely can be patient ! 

It’s a tradeoff between speed and simplicity, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.Whichever path you choose, it’s essential to build a solid foundation in both tax planning and asset protection.

With that kind of equity, you should be able to build a good-sized portfolio without having to use cash from anything else.