My primary goals are tax benefit and appreciation, as opposed to cash flow.Thanks again for your thoughts.Lauren@Lauren Merendino You may also look for someone with "cost segregation" expertise.

Which reminds me that I should mention that I’m not opposed to living a not-so-luxurious lifestyle in the short run.

-Why a hard money loan as opposed to a bank loan? 

@Vidit Maini Until you are an ESTABLISHED business I would recommend just keeping track of your mileage for deduction as opposed to spending the extra money to buy a “company vehicle”.

Recently I’ve been living next to an illegal and poorly run STR operation and I can now better empathize with folks who strongly oppose them.

Read some other comments - I guess it is technically a cash out refi, but you're paying off a line of credit as opposed to putting the cash in your pocket which is what I typically think of when there is a 'cash out refi'.

Yes you do have to pay PMI when you do this but once you hit 20% equity you can get it removed if you buy with a Conventional loan as opposed to an FHA loan.

I feel like this gives me an instant screenshot of every expense for each building so I know Building A paid $1800 for insurance, Building B paid $2100 for insurance and Building C paid $2400 for insurance as opposed to having one account and seeing Insurance was $6300.

diversification and cash flowSan Jose, CA has been very appreciation heavy... and i'm not opposed to keeping some property here, though the multi-family / commercial real estate has very low cap rates, and low growth from what i'm seeing.

If you buy upscale (desirable) properties in desirable areas as opposed to affordable (undesirable) crapboxes in undesirable areas you won’t need to entice tenants.