Since I will be living in, I am looking for a nice neighbrhood with somewhat remodeled house with opportunities to increase the value as well.I would love to connect with other investors in the area and appreicate any insights as a newbie!

Although I do plan on increasing the rate next year and so on and so forth.

Many of these areas also benefit from both rising home values and increasing rents.Ultimately, successful investing comes down to selecting a growing market, a strong neighborhood, and building a reliable team to support you.

We've since increased their rent to market rate, and now we're experiencing late payments.Family Member as Tenant:Issue: Our family member is behind on rent for more than 5 months, with a rate below market due to their relationship with us.Behavior: They have made excuses about financial struggles, yet have been seen treating their new girlfriend to fine dinners and outings.Impact: Both tenants consistently pay late and have shown complete disrespect to us, the property owners, despite efforts to ensure their happiness and success.We'd hate to impact our relationship with them, but right now, they're hurting us and our pockets. 

For me, I could handle the increase in cost and still pay much less than If I got a 4/2 SF.

You’ll lose any property tax caps they may have enjoyed and be increased to the non-owner occupant tax. 

But I'd like to see Lynnette's projects to support your claim "the portfolio was a 30% increase in cost to the consumers" since in TN, NC, VA, NC PPAs are priced at avoided costs. 

Boosting your score doesn’t take long, and there are services that can review your credit history and help you increase it within a couple of months. 

Their services increase the odds of tenants renewing and staying longer.Handling Evictions & Problem Tenants: A good PM handles problems quickly and efficiently.

The increased cash flow would make such a substantial difference in your daily life that not paying it off would be foolish.Outside of that, I can't see many reasons I would take a 15% tax hit to save 4% on a mortgage, which is really only effectively about 3-3.5% depending on your tax bracket.