But it feels like if you keep cashing out equity on your properties to buy another, you end up with multiple properties but with your equity stretched really thin, like a house of cards ready to collapse. 

Buy a duplex or triplex or quadplex with an FHA and live in one unit and rent the others.

My goal is to buy a house in the area and house hack the remaining rooms.

I have to decide if im going to use a new injection of capital from the sale of my primary residence to:1) Hold in treasury bills at 4.5 percent until I find another property to purchase2) Pay off one of two existing mortgages, one at 3.75 percent and another at 4.5 percent3) Just find something to buy that beats either of those percentages on paper and be done with it4) Possibly loan out some hard money/broker it to a friend to allocateIts never an easy decision, but its a good problem to have.

My wife and I have been buying rental properties for 20 years.

Even so, most people choose to buy coverage for things even if there's a 99% chance they won't need it.  

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

I am actually open to hear about other areas in the states, but the general direction is Jacksonville at the moment.I totally agree about the partnership part.That is why I am working with one :) Are you thinking of buying in Jacksonville as well?

Myself and a friend are looking to get into investing in buying hold single-family homes.

Im really interested in buying some cashflowing rentals in Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, maybe the Carolinas.