I'm leaning towards the SF home, but my wife is wary of spending that much on a SF home and feels more comfortable spending far less ($200k or less) on a mobile home.

But meeting people and leaning on them for their direct expertise in the market your interested in can be very helpful after you have read a book or listened to a podcast on broad topics. 

Inflation might cause prices to spike but some taxing bodies might not need to raise taxes for MANY reasons.

Our plan in the near term would be to use the cash-flow to buy additional properties every 1-2 years, increasing cash-flow so that we can live off that income after 10-15 years.Given our modest goal of $10K/month, I am leaning towards Option 2 which is to use cash to buy properties and in a few years re-evaluate financing.Here is one of the new construction duplex properties I am vetting right now:Purchase price: $360K for a duplex.Expected rents: $3300 monthlyInsurance + taxes: $500Vacancy, Maintenance + Capex, Property Management (25%): $800Net cashflow: ~2K/month (CoC ~7%)

I am leaning toward renting it out as is and finding a multi family/duplex when rates settle down. 

I am leaning towards the first option as well... 

I would lean towards including this but would maybe consult with a CPA first.

I've been in this market for over 4 years and deals still make sense, but you will need to be more involved in leaning out processes and operations.

If not paid in 2 weeks, the tax lean will be auction.

great alternative way to look at it. thats sort of how i was leaning with my logic. like i would rather keep a good tenant for a long time and "lose" some market value but guarntee no vacancy. i figure i could write in a large penalty for cancellation too prior to term ends.