City recently did a building inspection and we noticed the tenant is smoking in the unit (cigarettes and marijuana), food waste everywhere leading to building pest issues, and there are 5 people living there now (3 adults and 2 kids).

Or we gradually perform high-quality updates for a live-in flip, then roll the equity into a new home.Regarding rental income, we aim to boost income, lower our effective tax rate by generating more low tax-drag income with rental income (since there’s not much we can do to lower out W2 tax bills) and have retirement cash flow.To compare the financial impact over 10-20 years, we want to analyze renting versus flipping.

That said, I live in Texas, and I have found that the property taxes and insurance are prohibitively high to make a short term rental work here.

My son rented rooms in properties like this a lot when he lived in LA and Vegas.

I live in DFW now but grew up in Abilene and do a lot of business there. 

I've lived in central Texas for 44 years and never have I replaced a roof less than 20 years old.

I live in LA, and have a rental here as well.

I like where I live and it has the potential to be a good rental for me down the line, so I've decided to go through with making the purchase. 

We lived in Aiken for 1 year prior to that. 

Learn the area, meet other investors at meet-ups and one-on-one conversations, and once you feel more confident, you can make a purchase to live in.