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

Those agents have their ego at the expense of the relationship, and there are such agents actively participating in this thread.

According to Realtor.com, EMD is typically between 1% and 2% of the total home price and is money you pay as a show of good faith when you make an offer on a house.But, it’s not an added expense.

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 lived in a college town and student rentals did very well as did STRs for parents coming in to visit their children.  

And to pile on, if you didn't own this property, then you would be paying $700 or more in rent each month to live somewhere else.It's nice when you can find a hack that allows you to live rent-free, but that doesn't happen often.

If you have lived in it for 2 yrs I would suggest renting it for 2 - 3 years and then selling it to avoid capital gains taxes. 

Anything imported is really expensive. 

@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

@Cody Caswell depreciation, mortgage interest, insurance and one time expenses(non recurring) are considered add back expenses.