Expect another brutal year for investors in the South and Southwest, particularly in Texas and Florida, and particularly in Austin, TX - perhaps the worst positioned market in the United States for returns in year 2025. 

Without knowing any of your financial position of your work or side hustles it is hard to give you exact advice because you may be able to carry these homes until they are paid off and in that case they would provide solid returns, but there are likely better real estate investments out there.  

You state that you have 20% - 25% equity position for safety, but you don't based on the information you gave. 

•Likely, the new property wouldn’t be cashflow positive due to the market conditions.2.Upgrade to a Bigger Property and Sell•Sell our current home and move into a larger house to better meet our family’s needs.• Use some equity from the sale to make this transition smoother.I’m torn between maintaining our current home as an asset and buying  a new smaller house to use as a rental after we move back in versus simplifying and focusing on a single upgraded property Considering factors like market trends, potential equity growth, and quality of life, which path do you think would be most beneficial?

Today, I analyzed over 10 condos, and while I found one with a positive cash-on-cash return, it was far from impressive.I’d love to hear from experienced condo investors about why this type of real estate might make sense despite the low cash-on-cash returns and HOA fees that cannot be influenced.As a bonus, if anyone has purchased investment properties for their children with a similar goal, I’d really appreciate any insights about your process or results.I am looking at buying 2 investment condos for my children to pay for their college tuition in 13-15 years.

It's like putting your life into net negative before you are trending enough into financial positive.

It may make sense to save a bit more and invest from a position of power.Keep in mind most helocs are adjustable.

The issue with section 179 expense is that you normally have to operate at positive income.Under most circumstances, bonus depreciation is better since you can take bonus depreciation even if you operate at negative income. 

However, one of the other REITs I invested in quadrupled in price, and as a whole I’m $150,000 positive.  

I hope to use private capital to fund the entry fees in second position.