Can anyone suggest a strategy to help accompany our letters?

Supp. 2d 1133 (ND Cal. 2000)), held that, where a tenant owned two birds and two cats, the landlord failed to establish that there was no duty to reasonably accommodate non–service animals.

In this case $1000 is 2% of $50,000 so it meets the 2% rule but again the cash on cash is 48%.not directly related to your question but CAP rate is the yearly percentage of the total capital in a deal that is recovered.so on our $50,000 house with a $400 cash flow the cap rate is 9.6%$4800 net income per year is 9.6% of $50,000In summary cash on cash can give you an idea of what your returns are while taking leverage into account, while CAP rate is better used to look at the viability of a deal with more of a birds eye view, the 2% rule is a general guideline to see if a rental stacks compared to others.

So, there's more to talk about before I could give you fully informed guidance, but at the bird's-eye view I'd say it makes sense to consider HELOC and fixed 2nd options on your current primary, then parlay that capital into the next investment purchase. 

Might be able to kill 2 birds with one stone.

Many states, including Texas also require some form of annual report, and sometimes a fee must accompany that annual report as well.  

Home ownership is for the birds.

And he can give you a bid while he is out there. 2 birds 1 stone.

would help if you delineated what your new to and what you need help with.but a good start for any beginner is the local REIA meetings they are full of beginners like you.mid stride folks and the one's who are doing very well who go there to find bird dogs and deals for little to no effort  LOL.And or if you really want in the business then go pay a few hundred bucks and get your RE pre license materials study take the test pass the test and go work for a broker who specializes in whatever aspect of real estate your interested in.. be in SFR  Multi  Commerical  leasing...

Live in one side and rent out the other - two birds one stone!