You’re building a thoughtful plan that’s set up for success.

Our mental model is to have enough that someone arriving late could put together a bare bones meal for dinner and have the essentials for breakfast before they head out to get actual groceries. 

This is also true in lower income areas, where a $100 rent bump is the difference between your tenant being able to feed themselves each meal or not.

I'm thinking long term rentals will be a good retirement plan.

Am I ok with this plan to ride up the appreciation, mortgage pay down and rising rents?

I’m at the very beginning of my REI journey and I would love some guidance on how I can best optimize my planning, research and saving phase (which I’m dedicating 2025 to).

My plan is to add 2 - 6 shipping container type of small houses and an above ground pool at some point to make at least a section of the property short/mid term rentals.

It’s a good plan, to me at least.

My plan was to keep the condo as my residence, but after a year, refinance to fund a down payment on a multi-family property, either out of state or in the surrounding NY area.

Unless you revise your plan and ensure that your personal use is under 10% of the rental use.