( keep buyers from wasting money on DD i suspect)3.

House hacking and leveraging my W-2 income to stack properties before transitioning into full-time real estate makes a lot of sense, and I'll definitely keep this approach in mind.

Quote from @Edgar Duarte: hi allI would love to get some perspective from your expertise, we have a property that we would have to sell in 2025 to avoid paying taxes on the capital gains, we believe we rcan sell it for $700K and get an equity of almost $500K after paying the mortgage balance, if we invest all of it option in index funds at 7% rate (standard com growth calculator), or in more rental properties as we are all here for, I can get the equity of around $900K.option B would be keep paying the house at 2.3% int rate while we have it in AirBnB and maybe sell it in 10 years for $900K, knowing that we would be paying taxes but it is not that bad still. or we can 1031 at that point?

I'll be keeping your info as I'm about to be a North Carolina resident and property investor.

No way is this a scheme to keep EM for the seller..Anytime I have had EMD disputes it usually gets solved with a 50 50 split since I know what will happen.. what happens is exactly as you describe.. money is to small to realistically hire an attorney to collect..

Tampa can work, but yes, taxes and insurance are higher and might keep cash flow tight.

Keep searching for lenders because you're speaking to the wrong ones. 

I would start keeping track of everything that you've had/have to do while owning/acquiring this property.

I have one asst. manager doing book keeping weekly on over 400 units. 

@Travis GuttingAssuming you are trying to keep things low-budget, here are some options:Driving for Dollars – Look for distressed properties and contact owners directly.