Jimmy,You need to show (2) years of 1099 SE income in order to use FHA, or traditional financing to get approved for a mortgage.

Vanessa, If you choose the seller financed route, you could potentially continue investing under the bank's stringent debt-to-income radar, so to speak.

I think the real estate professional strategy works if it is your primary source of income.   

This aligns with my interest in passive income.

A lot of our housing stock here has finished basements or in-law suites, so with something like that you can generate significant rental income for an inexpensive conversion. 

Akron is a very blue city and are not very landlord friendly - source of income protections, etc... 

Real estate investing has been a passion of mine for time with my mother also having invested early on where I likely have gotten the love and desire to follow similar foot steps.I have taken last 6 months to educate myself and currently own a single family home as primary residence and would like to expand to multi family properties (2-4 units) for additional stream of income, not to mention potential tax benefits for long-term investing.Based on current living situation, I have a fair amount of equity established in my primary residency along with having enough cash to either pay off house completely or use towards investing in a multi family property.Given that I'm the sole source of income for our household with my wife being the home maker for our two kids under 2, trying to weigh out risks with getting started now or perhaps waiting. 

The US taxes global income which dramatically increases the reporting requirements.

It will take at the very least 200 units to achieve that income goal.

There will likely be a partnership return required where you flipped a house with a partner and lost $120,000.If you sold the other property within the same partnership, it will also be reported on that partnership return.The net result to you is that you will receive a K-1 showing your income / loss which you then use to report on your individual return.If you made no money within the same year, you likely pay no additional taxes / get no additional refund.Best of luck.