I studied RE development and investment for my MBA, I am the building inspector for the town where I live and I worked as a contractor before switching to only working on my own deals.

Convince yourself that there's a better than average chance that you will lose, and if you can live with the time, energy and money spent if you do. 

Albuquerque is already such a wonderful place to live and do business so I am all for anything that will make it even better.  

I am the first in my family to do REI and my goal is to break the tradition of working for a salary for 40+ yrs only to retire on what I hope will be enough to start living freely.

But these two live and work it and dont sell e ducation.

Living in the house has definitely slowed progress. 

This not only defers the taxes on the two rental properties but then once they live in the primary residence for at least 2 years that home now qualifies for the Section 121 exclusion on the gain.

I like the tub (it wasn't cheap, about 12 grand) but there's not great service options where I live and not sure if I would get it again since I mostly have to take care of it. 

It’s a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom unit that I’ve been living in for the past two years.

@William Taylor so many options...Use your RE knowledge to: WholesaleFind rental deals to sell to investors locally or here on BPStart leveraging your personal contacts to build your sales businessFind a motivated seller willing to do seller financing:- Move in worst room or basement, rent out all the other rooms for max cashflow- You could even live in the basement and STR the rest of the house