Don't be stupid and pay your credit card debt when the profits you earn from investing in real real estate even when you make bad decisions will earn you $1,000, $ 5,000, $10,000 and like most investors I know more than $40,000 per year.Everyone telling you to eliminate credit card interest that cost you a few thousand dollars a year is insane when you can make thousand and thousands of dollars by using the cash you have to invest in real estate.I have an employee who raises the hair on the back of my neck one or two times every week.

Given that this is by far the best house hacking deal is my neck of the woods, would I be better off buying a duplex/fourplex a few hours away that meets the 1% rule?

I currently live in Florence but have lived in Muscle Shoals and Sheffield in the past.

Florence, Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals, and Sheffield are, in my opinion, an undiscovered nugget for REI.

Does anyone have a contact in Muscle Shoals area who could help us finding what we are looking for?

Hey Andrew, I live in your neck of the woods and am an agent here in Oregon.

Steve,As much as the kitchen shows some improvement, it would be difficult to rent to a decent tenant in my neck of the woods.I just rented this home for over $1500 a month to a couple with a credit score in the high 700's in 2 days.Respectfully, GaryBEFORE:AFTER:

My own experience with having to do many sewer line re-routes and repairs (on houses built in the 70's) is that whatever they used in DFW is not the same as what they used in your neck of the woods.

Taxes are a trivial issue compared to liability.If that "under the table" worker falls off your roof, breaks their neck, and is paralyzed with no insurance coverage for doing the work, guess who is on the hook for their long term care bill, which could be 7 figures? 

I have also found that doing hypothetical analysis of properties is a good way to build my deal analysis muscles.