To intentionally reduce the leverage more than required is a foreign concept to me.Best wishesDan, financially you are, of course, correct.  

The goal is to create paper losses that offset your wife’s W2 income, reducing your tax bill. 

That said, it looks like if I rent out the bedrooms separately, I can earn more for the property overall (500-600 per bedroom vs 800-900 for the whole house.)

What awards or accolades have you earned?

The new investment earns $24,000 a year, but the mortgage + the equity loan cost will be $22,332—and that’s before you account for taxes, insurance, maintenance, capital expenditures, vacancies, etc.

If you sell your new property for $20K less than you bought it then that would have the impact of reducing the profit on your old property by $20K. 

Leverage Technology and AutomationTechnology is crucial for scaling, as it helps reduce labor costs and increases efficiency.

So, I can't see reducing it further.

I, unfortunately, have alot of experience in catastrophic losses and large scale insurance claims.This is my attempt to give back to this community and provide some of my hard earned wisdom in the hopes that it helps you navigate this horrific situation.Get a support network now.

To start, I’d like to ask you a question: What is more important, purchasing real estate where you can obtain 100% return of your capital through the BRRRR investment method but otherwise break even or even worse lose money or alternatively  leave some of your capital in the deal but earn a profit when the property is sold?