I got so lucky - the first 3 years, during the depths of the pandemic, I had a perfect tenant, no problems, even during the storms. 

They were given a choice; either sign up for fork in the road in a few days which is a resignation, or risk getting fired.

The rental demand in the area has been consistent, and duplexes offer the flexibility of house hacking or scaling into multi-family investing over time.With your experience in construction and remodeling, you’re already ahead of the game—fix-and-flips or BRRRR projects in Kansas City could be a perfect fit for you. 

@Duke Butterfield no one can really answer whether or not real estate is a good choice for you - except YOU!

Focus on running a clean operation rather than perfect technical compliance.Pro Tip: Your biggest risk isn't the IRS - it's partners who might complain to the IRS.

Both strategies have potential here, so it depends on your goals:Strategy 1 (Duplex) can be a solid choice for building equity and generating cash flow, especially in Austin’s competitive short-term rental market.

But, all payments with Baselane goes via Stripe gateway, and they apparently have no choice but to honor those requests due to their agreement with Stripe.

In a perfect world that’s how I would start since it would be a lot easier than buying a home but I’m sure there’s some things I’m overseeing.

🎯 The Real Parallel for Real Estate Investors:AMEX and Coca-Cola together show Buffett's core principles that align perfectly with real estate investing:Buy Quality Assets During OpportunitiesAMEX during the crisisCoca-Cola during market pessimismJust like buying good properties during market corrections!

But if it's coming at the cost of your health or something else important than time with your family then it's perfectly fine to step back when you need to.I think this goes without saying.