So my fear is that I would make a mistake, blow the little capital I have, and have to start over.The counter to that is the fact that I haven't left the starting line in my investing journey.

@Haley ElisabethYou are not missing anything but there is what I would call good debt and bad debt.For example if I buy a property cash, rehab it and it has a $300,000 value and can be used as a rental and provide cash flow - getting a $150k loan on that asset to buy another (not blow it on toys) say $300k asset I have 2x future appreciation than one asset.

And hope you can continue to advocate for your community as I do think people with compromised immune systems, etc. would be in this boat (along with severe allergies).

So I advocate home ownership as the first step.The most important thing is action.  

I think this blow puts me too low for a Heloc which is frustrating.

However, to play devil's advocate, you can capture some of that equity upon the sale of your house hack to use for your primary home (future family home) and/or future investments. 

Part of the reason I still work my W2 part time is so I'm not reliant on the commission which allows me to advocate the better deal and not try to bump my numbers 1k or 2k here at the expense of my client on the scale of tens of thousands.

And that by itself could blow up your exchange.The cost for a QI like us to do your 1031 exchange is very small - especially considering al of the other issues you have going with this sale.The QI does have to be in place prior to the sale of the old property.  1.

I always tell my clients that anything you buy in Columbus OH now will blow up and appreciate like crazy because of the continuous growth in this market.

The rent control advocates, having zero understanding of economics, blames greedy landlords without realizing the rent control has increased risks.My properties are in a very desirable area that is very constrained.