I have section 8 rentals in great areas and I almost forget they exist sometimes because of how long term the tenants are and how low maintenance they are.

I’m just trying to figure out where to start in terms of figuring out what makes sense.

After living in the property for a year, you can move out, keep the same loan terms, and convert your unit into a rental.

We'll be househacking and renting out the other side for about a year to satisfy the terms of our mortgage. 

Their fees and interest rates were high, but they had the least restrictive approval terms from what I gathered.

The smaller one is a great mid term rental right now.  

Bottom line I guess is whatever you do with those parcels it is important that first time home buyers can get financing long term. 

There are very successful STRs here, you just have to know the best areas to be profitable. 

Congrats on taking the leap and your success so far!

you'll probably still need something long term like software as others have suggested but this was a thought i had... you could see the actual profit or loss from a tax perspective for each property.