@Jason Dubon I take the cost of all appliances and divide it by 5 (avg lifetime of appliances these days) to estimate annual cost of appliance replacements.

Yes, about 82% of properties are matched to a person in DealMachine - you get their phone, email, age, birthday, income level, renting OR owning.

This is how I see it:Single-Family Homes:Pros:Larger pool of potential tenants (families).Simpler management (one tenant, one lease).Often easier to finance.May appreciate faster in some markets.Cons:Only one income stream.Vacancy hits harder financially.Duplexes:Pros:Two potential income streams.Live in one unit and rent the other (house hacking!)

This requires an income that allows you to maintain your standard of living throughout your life.

There will likely be a partnership return required where you flipped a house with a partner and lost $120,000.If you sold the other property within the same partnership, it will also be reported on that partnership return.The net result to you is that you will receive a K-1 showing your income / loss which you then use to report on your individual return.If you made no money within the same year, you likely pay no additional taxes / get no additional refund.Best of luck.

A lot of our housing stock here has finished basements or in-law suites, so with something like that you can generate significant rental income for an inexpensive conversion. 

  $950 rent x 12 months = $11k annual rent

The northwest suburbs of Akron are the higher  income areas.  

Take the proceeds and invest in a highly trusted Syndication or fund and enjoy the passive income.

My wife and I have overhauled our personal budget to reflect the 'pay yourself first' approach (allocate in order: income comes in -> invest -> donate -> fixed expenses -> variable expenses -> fun $$).We are looking to see what experienced people generally recommend for a holding tank for that 'invest' allocation while we target our first real estate deal.What financial vehicles have you guys used that works well for this?