I would hate to pass on it and settle for just earning a commission by selling it.

-------Building an ADU in Raleigh is a fantastic way to enhance your property’s value (a whole other discussion there) and increase your property’s income-earning potential. 

Alternatively, if you leave your paycheck in your checking account earning .01% interest, there is no real benefit.  

As long as you stay invested and let your hard earned capital continue to grow, you can pick your spots when a real estate opportunity offers outsized returns comparatively to other investments. 

Since you're a citizen but you live and work abroad you'd still qualify mostly for second homes occupancy or investor non owner occupancy (primary is hard to claim if your job requires you to be physically next to the office as an example so an underwriter isnt going to readily believe you unless you can get HR to write you a letter to state you're remotely capable of earning this income/job duties anywhere).Hopefully that helps let me know if you have further questions into mortgage planning.

If you are not cash flowing and have a high earning job you don't need to deal with 3 or 4 rentals. 

It’s a short term rental started in Oct 2024 and earning during this off season is under $10K but cost segregation has nothing to do with rental income only depreciation of the property and with bonus depreciation being 60% this year I think it’s worth it.

.- Additionally, you can track income and expenses consistently using software or spreadsheets.If you track everything, you could show a loss and use that to offset other earned income (such as a W2) which will net you a bigger refund.

The mortgage payment is $1,000 on each house, so you earn $500 per house or $2,000 monthly.

Thing is, you need to understand it's going to a difficult way to earn a living.