Married Adults + 2 kidsWhat if there is 1 samll dog/cat added to each of the scanarios above?

All the friends I trust were out of town or married, and I was done living with strangers. 

I “hope” you are not married or it will make it very difficult as you can’t have a disregarded multi-member LLC except in community property states.

Just a couple of notes:You need 8712 sqft of land for 3 units for r-2 in Tucson.  

You talk about not having the time to deal with these things, moving out of state, getting married, etc.

Time spent as an investor or in activities not customarily done by an owner does not count towards the 500 hours.One thing to note is that if you are married, you can combine hours with your spouse's to meet this threshold.

If you are single or married with a small child, buying a duplex or 4plex should work well.  

The house is only in my name at this point, which was intentional when we married, and when we moved out of it as a primary residence to hopefully avoid ex’s gotta financial pursuits.

Husband and I have 3 rental properties between us that were we lived in separately at different points before getting married.

There are several different types of income in the US tax code.Two main types are “active income” and “passive income".Active income is money you earn from working, such as wages from a W-2 job or income from running a business.Passive income is money you earn from investments like real estate, stocks, or rental income from your RE portfolio where you earn $ without actively working.Normally, you can't use passive losses (like losses from real estate investments) to offset active income like your salary from a W-2 job.That is unless you are an RE Pro.The reality is, that Real Estate Pro status is just a filing status similar to filing married or jointly.And if you are a real estate professional you CAN use passive real estate losses to offset active income from other sources.To qualify as an RE Pro you must:1.