This includes trips to properties for evaluations, trips to Home Depot, etc. 

Hi real estate friends,My wife and I recently bought our first home in Co springs area close to garden of the gods and other attractions in the area. to no surprise our interest rate is a whooping 7.1%, the main house has 4 - BD 2 B. our mortgage is $4009. the property we bought has an attached dwelling unit on the side of it, completely independent from the main unit we live in, we are currently renting it out for 2 years for a tenant for $1545, It has one bedroom one bath.My question is what are some ways to scale especially since in the current market (is kind of almost impossible)?

I do have equity built up in my home, but I don't want to be saddled with yet another payment.

The major fires that burned hundreds of homes in Redding, and over a thousand in Paradise put a huge demand on  housing.

This PM company is clearly out of their depth even though they told me last month that they had hired more staff and were making improvements to their processes.

Does anyone have experience exchanging their small multi family property into a single family home, use it as an investment property then move into it as a primary residence after meeting the requirements?

My ultimate goal is to become successful with my real estate investments so I don’t have to rely so much on my job and be able to spend more time at home with my soon to be wife and future children.

Our current plan is to purchase our first home and live in it for 2-4 years before moving to a new home and using this first property as a rental, so my fiance and I are currently in the market for a home that we could use as our residence during the offseason and then use as a short term rental or something like that while we are away for 6-7 months.

I've looked into mobile/manufactured homes as an option but with lot rent it seems like it may not be worth it.

I owner occupy the home, renting a room to a friend at $650/mo, and the lower unit rents for $1850/mo - total rental income of $2500/mo.