An LLC is potentially one minor factor that might contribute to the evidence that you are running your rental activity as a trade or business, but it's definitely not required that you have an LLC to qualify.

Depending how much of the neighborhood is a hot zone for renting rather buying, and which Property type is performing better than the other (meaning 1bd 1ba 2 floor renting out faster and much more consistently than a 2bd 1ba 1 floor), you can make your choice of those factors as well as other ones that impact your decision for what you wanna do with your investment.

Your post completely ignores (not surprisingly) the main issue.

FHA allows the construction or renovation of an ADU on the property by refinancing into a 203k loan, but the property must remain your primary residence.This stuff is subject to change, lender specific, and subject to other factors.

It's hard not to be emotional when house hacking becasue you're living there but think about other factors for you too, not just the cost.

Granted we only have 17 but still, I’ve never used anything except a simple excel spreadsheet and all my rental properties have a separate savings account under my main account at my local bank.

The main downside is being dependent on the HOA—issues like poor management, rising fees, or unexpected assessments can hurt your investment.

Seems doable, depending on a few factors will determine what the right product is for you.

Hey Joshua, I own a property management company in Maine.

So that area is based mainly on ease of longer term (ish) rental income, with about 2-3 years stability depending on how often people PCS and the (somewhat) quality of tenants (bc you never know, even with military).