@Luis Cerwin as others have stated, Nov - Jan is the worst time of year to have a vacancy.Majority of tenants live paycheck-to-paycheck, so all their income goes to Holiday spending starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then xmas, then NYE.January is also historically the worst month for rent payments due to Holiday Hangover Spending.

Ama - get your income up so you can save some money to put into your first deal.

@Justin Brin Yes, you can elect to aggregate your rental properties for Qualified Business Income (QBI) purposes, but once you do, you must continue to aggregate those same properties in future years unless there is a significant change in circumstances (such as disposing of a property).

Here’s a breakdown of my numbers:Primary Residence:Estimated Value: $340,000Remaining Mortgage: $187,000HELOC Balance: $76,000 (fully utilized)Remaining Equity: $77,000Rental Property #1:Estimated Value: $110,800Remaining Mortgage: $60,000Equity: $50,800Cash Flow: $375/monthRental Property #2:Estimated Value: $215,000Remaining Mortgage: $115,000Equity: $100,000Cash Flow: $350/monthOther Income:$1,500/monthMy DilemmaI'm considering taking out a Home Equity Loan (HEL) on my primary residence to:Pay off the HELOC (eliminating the variable rate risk).Use the remaining cash for a down payment on another rental property (~$150K purchase price with 20% down).Estimated cash flow: ~$150/month in year one.Alternatively, I could save up for the down payment instead of leveraging more debt.

Purchase price: $110,000 Cash invested: $60,000 Sale price: $225,000 This property has 2 units and 2 storage units creating 4 income streams.

When the 1031 is complete the exchanger will refinance the new property and use the cash from the refinance (now non taxable) to invest in syndications.

Hey Spencer - It sounds like a great idea to generate some extra income with your empty room!

@Chase AlexanderRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

But in my experience, you would be better off spending that same amount of time/hustle working a second part-time job with guaranteed income, then investing in buy-and-hold properties. 

It really has to do with the spread between rent (income) and expenses.