You could conceivably start with a 50-story high-rise development.

I have high equity in my current duplex so planning on using that to fund down payment for the next property.  

Here's some basic copy & paste info that may help you make better investing decisions:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Upgraded the backyard and re-styled and provided high end furnished to the home What was the outcome?

With a very high costs are so many are stretched to the limit.

luxury cabin, 3100', 4/3/1, nice finishes including spa and sauna, in high fire risk area with total property value ~$500k with CA FAIR was just over $5K fire only. 

Looking for a turn around scanrio is an ego pleaser, makes for a great story if it works, but high risk it will never pan out the way you thought.

If your income is high enough that you won't qualify for financial aid (or you've saved enough in 529s) then it won't matter.

At the end of the day, losing $10k is really not a lot in the grand scheme of real estate investing, and given the seeming high volatility of this market ($275k to $220k, presumably in a matter of months), and the generally high monthly cost of HML, I would get out quickly and think of the loss as the cost of education.At least in my area (Cincinnati, OH) I don't see the market dramatically improving even as we get into the spring buying season, and, honestly, I only see mortgage rates continuing to climb for the foreseeable future, taking more and more buyers out of the market.

Look at what high interest credit cards you can get rid of, pay down, or move to zero interest promotion cards for say 15 months etc.