Well based on that logic, home inspections cost money too and I could save towards my next down payment by skipping those. 

You mentioned buying a fixer upper with your HELOC and now are talking about a 20% down payment.

You have a payment once you borrow against it, but not before. 

Layer on the ability to invest the funds that otherwise would go towards the down payment and transactional costs and you likely come out ahead in such a short term horizon renting.

Have all payments from  the tenants go to your LLC. 

After buying this house, I partnered with others to invest in a duplex in the Wichita area.At the moment, I’m living in Tennessee, and I’m weighing two options: either selling my house and using the proceeds to buy a duplex in Overland Park or Wichita with my partners, or keeping the house for another 3 years, transferring it to our LLC, and renting out the entire property to maximize its rental potential ( $1400-$1600 ) I currently owe $200k on the property with a 6.5% interest rate, and my monthly payment is between ($1,700-$1800).

@Paola AstridIf you’re considering refinancing an FHA loan, it’s a great way to lower monthly payments or gain more flexibility.

I continued paying what I had paid before, with the additional money purely going to principal.The recast to a lower amount was purely to reduce my committed monthly payment to a point that I could get my property to cash flow if I had to move out (job loss, etc).

For near term investors, be prepared for sizable down payments to reach a cash flow neutral stance no matter how far out you look in the suburbs.

There has been quite a bit of complaints in the past year of IHA mishandling payments or not paying at all and little to no communication.