You can't simplify all of this by looking at only two of them (rent vs equity) and coming to a conclusion. 

I have been thinking of investing in multi-family syndications as a way of moving away from active direct investments into more passive investments to simplify life.I found this article in the link below very interesting.....I especially like the last line.... 

Taxes - At tax time you will be filing a Schedule E, so simplify your bookkeeping by using categories that match well with that form.

My goal is to simplify everything and to have one person I can go to with all of my needs. 

Long story, but I'll try to simplify: My wife got a one year contract job at a university about an hour away from our primary residence.

We want to simplify life, not to mention the acreage is worth a good bit but demands little for rent... it's appreciated nicely for us, but in the end of the day I'd like to put that capital to work in the form of more traditional rental homes.

The existing spreadsheets/programs are either too generic and simplified. 

So maybe I'm over simplifying, but I'd have to recapture about $1,500 of depreciation in 2018 at 25%.

Especially in this crazy market where MF are gettig gobbled in days, anything you can do to simplify and focus the seller on your offer will help get it done.

     I would try to simplify it and look at where you are today and not so much where you think you might be in a couple years.