Firstly, if you're planning on buying your forever home, I would pay cash but if it's going to be anything else, keep the 200.

Or if you buy a duplex, live in one side, and work the deal so the tenant is paying all or most of the mortgage (some circumstance like that).Buying a rental house (or 20) the right way, and renting them out forever is one of the best passive business models I’ve ever experienced.

remember your first home is not your forever home, it's your first rental so it doesn't need to be everything you want.look for homes where the bones are good, but cosmetically needs love. don't by pre 1960 if you can help it. you'll end up just having to replace all the guts like plumbing and electrical at some point. it's inevitable. look in areas where the path of growth is headed, but might not be currently. think 5 years out. look for resources like your local chamber of commerce to see what businesses are coming in and where. your city planning office should also be on your call list as they can help show where most permits are being pulled for development. follow the money. go to local investing meetups. crowdsource local knowledge and form meaningful relationships. those who've gone before you typically will help out and help you avoid the mistakes they've already made. onward.

While this plays a role it really dried up at the consumer level about 1.5 yrs ago so this is a less of a factor for 2024.

I think I speak for most CFPs when I say that I hope it reduces consumers being misled.

It will just be more time consuming and error prone. 

Don’t wait forever house hacking is a very forgiving strategy!! 

- You can get away with doing it yourself forever, especially if you like doing it. 

This is dependent if I chose to cover the A/C unit in my Home Warranty package.If I had a fire in my home in which a room burned down and my personal property such as TV's, furniture, etc was consumed in the fire, then I would call the Home Insurance company to fix/repair the burned-down room and also to replace my TV and furniture.

I assume operating a MTR is more time/effort consuming than running a LTR, but I'm wondering whether it's a just little more time/effort, or a LOT more time/effort?