I'll continue doing my diligence, using your posts as another guidepoint. 

I have been investing in trust deeds for over a decade and will continue to do so because I believe this is one of the best ways to invest your retirement funds.

Places like Texas where you’re at will likely continue to face significant insurance increases given more weather related events which makes it challenging To pencil, but if you have good population growth, things should even out.

and as they sell you continue to 1031 them back into new DSTs or back into bricks and mortar if you're tired of retirement. 

Right now its slim pickings in real estate for properties that will cash flow or see any significant appreciation. of course they are always out there but a lot harder to find.The other question is why do you want to continue to grow?

From my own personal experience and from others I think most reach the "tipping point" from self managing to using a PM somewhere between 5-15  units, especially if you have a W2 and want to continue to scale. 

5K rent seems cheap for the area so I would continue with that.

One important detail is that my brother currently lives with us, and we are open to having him stay with us if we do make a purchase as a renter to help cover our mortgage.I see our main options as the following:1) Buying an SFDU to live in, and "house hack" with my brother continuing to live with us and pay rent2) House hacking with MFDU.

I've had one recent multifamily deal in Florida exit with a 32% IRR and one hotel deal in Atlanta refinance and return 110% of the original invested capital through dividends and the refinance and the hotel continues to make regular 16% distributions.  

I recommend continuing to learn pros and cons of each and determine which paths (I pluralize it as you should diversify even across real estate).