But from my understanding, the captial gains exclusion has two main criterias - you must have owned the home in the last 2 to 5 years and must have lived in the home in the last 2 to 5 years. 

I have 23 properties in Kenosha and earlier this year purchased two duplexes in Racine.

Also I feel buy and holds are harder to structure partnerships as its not that much money when split in between two people.

We have two properties in SLC area and manage from out of state.

Took about half a year to learn how to walk, talk and even eat again, but bounced back to my love for real estate investing and the two things that transitioned me from just wholesaling to actually buying deals as an investor was creative finance and private money.Bought my first rental property in Easley, S.C. owner finance and one of my best rentals I still own today was bought subject-to! 

Buying a property as primary, renting a bedroom or two to friends is a good way to start building your RE portfolio.

Quote from @Sumarde Kristoff: I would say two things:1.

I started listening to the podcast and reading real estate books about two months ago, and I’m excited to take my first step into real estate investing.I’m currently in Spokane, WA, and I’m pre-approved for a loan.

This is obviously much better than $1,400 per month.On top of that, you will now get 2x the depreciation write-off so your taxes should go down.On top of that, you will now get 2x the appreciation when real estate price go up.On top of that, your tenants are helping you pay down the loan, initially at about $100/mo for both properties, which gradually gets better and better.On top of that, you now have more units so if one or two goes vacant, you have more renters covering the losses of the vacant units.If you want to keep these properties, I would do a cash-out refi and go buy more rental real estate.

I'm curious what more experienced investors will leave to finish repairing after they list the property, but before they start to show it (or lease it).I start the marketing about two weeks prior to completion, with an advertised availability date of one week after completion.