Regarding your options, both have their unique benefits, and your decision might come down to your personal goals and comfort with managing properties.Continuing to House Hack: Staying in your current home and purchasing another single family or duplex to rent out can be a great way to expand your portfolio while maintaining the comfortable cash flow you’re accustomed to.

If we don't tell them we're the owner, they might start getting suspicious when they see us making these changes.The last thing we would want is for them to feel like we're being dishonest landlords, but we also want to maintain some boundaries and make it a little easier to enforce rules if need be.Thanks for your help!

The in-place plumbing will overkill, so if over time you lock and shut down a couple bathrooms (so you have less to maintain), whatever. 

Agree with the others that tenants are responsible for maintaining the lawn and landscaping.

If you prefer to maintain liquidity and have the potential to handle multiple projects, HML might be the way to go. 

Not UBIT on leveraged real estateRoth and Traditional built into the same planCheaper and generally easier to maintain than IRA LLC especially with checkbook control Hope this helps.  

However, installation costs and procedures may vary, so it's worth getting quotes from both if you're not doing the work yourself.As a hard money lender specializing in fix and flip deals, I've seen successful investors use a mix of these sources to optimize their budgets while maintaining quality.

I still underestimate how much it will cost to maintain my properties.

I purchased a well-maintained single-family home in a growing suburban community.

Maintain a fortress balance sheet; therefore your strength as a guarantor and keep most if not all of the equity in your deals.