Many of them treat the home as their own and stay long term.Multi's are nice because they generally produce more cash flow, but do require some extra attention.

If you want to buy your first property ASAP, house hacking (duplex, triplex, or renting extra rooms) is one of the best ways to start with a low down payment while learning property management.

It may take 2-3 extra months, but the rent is still coming in.

Only your half of the gain qualifies. 

And maybe diversify a little, invest half in a low cost S&P500 fund like VOO and the split the rest across 2 or 3 syndications.

While the heater issue adds extra stress, addressing it promptly will protect you from further fines and penalties.

It happened to coincide with Hurrican Harvey and we flooded during the rehab. 212 extended the HM loan without any extra fees for 4 months until December 31 2017.

That's less than half the price you were quoted.In this case, I think it would be worth moving grandma out and selling the trailer for $3,000.

So, by transferring income from a rental schedule E to a business schedule C you're creating a significant extra tax.

There are a lot of other strategies one can try, but what you do is the lowest risk, the most predictable outcome and takes the least amount of time and energy.I always suggest to use an extra time an investor has to think about building or buying a business that generates cash to accelerate the growth curve.