While I own a house in Canada, which has been my only investment so far, I am eager to diversify my portfolio and begin investing in real estate in the USA.

There is also an ad on small "house" which is also being rented.

Best of luck on your continued journey, HELOCS can be a great tool to utilize untapped equity in a house.

One thing I continue to think about is how valuable 2-4 unit properties are becoming, and will continue to be, since Fannie/Freddie took the income restrictions from the 5% down conventional loan option for house hackers. 

Also, before you buy another property you'll want to determine your ideal next property - meaning, will it be a "rent ready" house, a major renovation project, or somewhere in between.

We are not familiar with any of these markets, nor do we have anyone trustworthy there, or a real estate agent.Our approach would be both rental and house flipping.

I would suggest making sure that you are following a set format/style of house each time you flip to systemize it more2.

They even sent someone from the city to the house to tell us to stop operating it as a STR. 

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $165,000

Cash invested: $20,000

I bought a duplex in Racine that needed a lot of cosmetic upgrades. Both uni...

But they were selling an expensive house in California and had horrible credit.