Idle money is the quickest path to low returns and does no good for anyone.

Install landscaping that super low maintenance and reduces water usage and looks nice.

I think this is a calculation a lot of homeowners are making right now--especially if they have a low interest mortgage, equity, and their house will cashflow as a rental.The choice is a personal one of course, but I think your future self will thank you if you pull out some equity from your existing home with a HELOC for the downpayment on the next house and a cushion renting your current home, use a property manager as you have other things to do, and buy the next house and do the same thing again.

My thought is to use a HELOC for the down payment on a new property (20% down), then once I acquire it, do a cash-out refinance to pay off the HELOC while keeping my original low rate intact.

There are a couple opportunities thats on MLS currently, and I am crunching through my math and it seems to work out well (positive cash flow, decent cap rate).Some key assumptions I hope still holds true today:  low vacancy rate in general. ~1000-1200/month for a room in a single family house / duplex. 

Annual taxes are low.

We took about 14 months to close this deal and the seller was very generous on keeping the price low.

The thing that would deter me from this location is a background rate of appreciation of 3.12% and low school ratings.

FSBO is very possible in hot markets.. if you already have buyers lined up.. in markets that are not hot your going to get deluged by investors looking to low ball..

One can do well with low price high risk but max leverage and thinking our going to sit in your barcolounger while you let your tenants pay for your retirement is not reality unless you live there and work it basically daily..