Jung,Welcome to the BP forum its a great time to start as mortgage rates fall and home prices still priced well in many states.

If I leave this amount in Sch-E, I get taxed at ordinary income tax rate at Federal and State level, which along with my regular W2 income can be substantial.

-Ray (see above) is the man and can get you hooked up with great rates and low-fees!

You can generally get the best terms (max leverage and best rates) on an owner-occupied house.

Do a bit of digging, and you can find single-families in suburbs like Decatur or Meridianville that appreciate at rates above the statewide and nationwide average and hit the 1% rule at the same time.One caveat, though, is that most rentals in Huntsville proper probably aren’t going to deliver the cash flow you’re looking for.

We are BRRRRing it and we’re originally going to rent traditionally, however we decided to look into it as an Airbnb, and when we put in current loan rates which will be near or at 7% when we are ready, we’d only cash flow about $150 a month 😱, but as an Airbnb our projections are around $1,300 cash in our pockets monthly. 💰 At this point is a no brainer 🧠 and we know if it doesn’t work out or we don’t like doing it we can always revert to a traditional rental. 

Since she was a first time homebuyer we were able to save her 1% off her interest rate!

I have some YouTube videos that may help with some of your questions and always happy to have a call to dive a little deeper. 1. which development(s) tends to be the best for ROI/have the best occupancy rates? 

This year is slower than normal because mortgage rates and home prices are so high.

You would end up saving the higher interest rate on the HELOC as well as closing costs.