There are many ways to buy cheap elsewhere but still lose your shirt. 

Purchase price: $98,500 Cash invested: $15,000 owner financed on duplex, bought from a friend of the family. hopefully many more to comeHey @Jeffrey Eschbach, welcome to the BP Forum!

I am hoping to learn more about how investors analyze their deals and make decisions, as well as looking to better understand general real estate investing.

Quote from @Shay D'Amore: Aloha, I am posting in hopes I can find someone who may be willing to mentor me in real estate investing.

This certainly doesn't answer your question - only the landlords who have interacted with you can - but hopefully it gives a little more about the mindset of a landlord.

Your income isn't high enough for it to make sense as a rental and the closer you get to your residence limit the greater pressure you will have to sell it before losing your exclusion in whole or part. 500k right now can make $15k per year income with zero maintenance or tenant risks. 

Hopefully this will be a consistent booking channel going forward. 

I generally prefer higher since I don’t plan on putting in small claims, it’s basically just for catastrophic loses and the savings in premiums over multpiple properties for multiple years should balance that out if I have ever have to use the insurance.

The risk is too high of losing everything.

However as Texas only allows a HELOC on your Primary Residence, I don’t want to lose this facility if I move to a new place (and I want to comply with the rules!).