BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

I suspect there's lots of inventory, particularly for new folks coming into the area that find the real estate prices are much better than where they came from.Do you have a type of house you like to target?

I am not familiar with how HELOCs work but they declined me saying my DTI is too high.  

If you do decide to start flipping homes- as a new investor you can either self finance with all cash, or you can contact a commercial lender like myself and expect terms to be 75-80% of the purchase price with 100% of the rehab financed through a draw.

Being a real estate professional allows you to treat the income as non-passive, allowing higher high income tax payers to pay less in taxes.

I work for a flooring company as a designer and meet contractors and people who flip homes regularly so it has me flirting with the idea of doing it myself.My question is, how did you get your spouse to be on board with real estate investing?

List your property on corporate rental sites like Blueground, Zeus Living, and Furnished Finder to attract high-income tenants. 

Does anyone utilize high interest savings accounts for their cash flow.

Indeed, it's probably ideal to do the kinds of things my colleagues here and I have suggested before trying a $$$ seminar or mentorship of that price.

So, the housing market in early 2025 is mirroring the price point seen at the beginning of 2024.For some broader context, here’s a chart of the median sales price of a single-family home in Austin over the past 10 years:Compared to the recent price peak in June 2022, the median single-family home price in Austin is down approximately 12%.