So, comps can help with figuring out local cap rates, then you need the income from the property to determine a value.

For example, if you are in a 24% tax bracket and the house is valued at $200,000, your potential tax savings might be around $48,000 (24% of $200,000), but that's a rough estimate and assumes you're itemizing.It's always a good idea to consult a tax professional to ensure you're maximizing your deduction and following all the necessary procedures for your donation.

The real estate investing industry uses "Classes" to rank property performance risk, but there's NO agreed upon industry model:(Here's what we use for our Metro Detroit market:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

The PM company is starting to kick a little better lately but we had a rough 2024.Always remember that every positive and negative experience when taken well is an opportunity to grow as a person and to learn something valuable. 

but i also 2nd @Jay Hurst's sentiments - get a 2nd or even 3rd opinion on DTI/ full doc. i personally love files that are puzzles, i get some weird satisfaction out of figuring out how to make it work on full-doc, especially when my client has been told "no" before. if it doesn't work now, a good loan professional will help you create a path forward.

Historically, we net roughly 65K Californians annually. 

For us, still in a growth mode, we take action and figure out how to redeploy that equity into other real estate through either cash-out refinancing or selling and 1031! 

Congratulations on the duplex -My investor clients have acquired several multi-family investment properties locally in the market I operate in Northwest Indiana - Figure out your personal investment objective for the next 4 years and align yourself with the next property that make sense in this current market environment-

But this was an awesome opportunity for me because this is my first living situation where I will be on my own (and getting used to paying a rent/mortgage) but this will put my overall mortgage on a 400k house at roughly $2000 a month for the first year!

Once you feel comfortable in running your numbers, figure out a good market that has good population & economic growth and landlord friendly laws.