Study what kind of properties sell, for how much, and what kind of tenants live there.Think with a 10year+ vision, but a decently sound property (not a 1900 single family conversion that is begging for a full gut rehab), and but in the RIGHT location. 

If your property is residential single-family owner-occupied in a good area, the buyer has good credit, made a good down payment, and twelve or more on-time payments have been made, you'll be in the lower range.Note buyers, just like lenders, won't go above a certain loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.

Plan to buy at 4 duplex and a single family(which includes a lot) this year.

As already mentioned, you could sell via seller financing to lower AGI, as all you would have to claim is the payment income - until balloon payment received.Did know an investor that had 14 properties paid off and he moved into one every two years to then sell with the $250k single exemption.

I've done several of these here in Chicago, and currently looking for a single-family house to a live in flip in. 

I got comment to submit a single plan.

When I worked with a property management company, we had someone buy a unit (single family) that had a STR and marketed it as a STR.

I have three single family rentals for three years and I now have my first horror story.

You can get solid cash-flowing single families in the 90-120k price range and duplexes in the 130-180k price range.

You could do General Contracting where you'd need knowledge of all trades or manage a team of one single trade.