I understand that I need to account for taxes, insurance, and other costs—Should I go with a LML and then do a refi later on?  

I’ve got her dealing with 8 properties which have individual accounts.

There is no stock account that gives the leverage real estate does, at as low interest rate real estate does, at as low risk/ volatility real estate does. 

To succeed, focus on properties in high-demand neighborhoods like Pecan Grove or Aliana, and ensure your cash flow analysis accounts for high property taxes, potential HOA restrictions, and flood insurance costs.

There are several other issues (undisclosed maintenance markup fees, excessive charges to our account, significant reductions to agreed rent without communication, etc).

In that world the typical path is 6-8 years in formal financial education, then if trading just for self, losing many first few thousand dollar accounts for about another 3-5 years.

I have a call out to my accountant as well. :)

My wife is always very aware of any charges on our account and that has saved us many times.

@Dallas Smith, With some good running of the numbers by your accountant this can work. 

Where I am running into an issue is there is a delinquent account on my credit history.