I'm finishing renovations on a studio apartment (under another unit in a multi-family) in the next few days and am trying to decide on what strategy to use to rent it.

Would you recommend this strategy to a new investor like myself?

@Fulati PaerhatiA 1031 exchange is a powerful strategy to defer capital gains taxes and grow your rental portfolio.

Although I am still new to real estate, the strategy that seems most appealing to me is long-term rentals, but in regard to investing in real estate, I am very open to any other strategies in the business.

As a property manager, based on my conversations with our clients, below is a condensed version of what we hear most (in relation to PM in Chicago): "- Passing on the load so that you can be more present and attentive to your family (edit: and other responsibilities) and not be essentially working 24/7, on-call for the needs of tenants and property emergencies... can be worth the management fees.

For management, self-managing saves costs and teaches valuable skills, but a property manager is essential for out-of-state properties or scaling your portfolio.

My interest rate and purchase price wouldn’t allow for positive cash flow unless I charged an unreasonable rent—or put about $500K toward the principal, which isn't ideal.I’m a high earner, so I’m weighing my options:Take the loss ($60K-$100K), buy another house, and chalk this up to a hard lesson learned.Refinance, put more money into it, and rent it out long-term—even if it’s not immediately profitable.Invest my money elsewhere and try to make peace with staying here for several years.Would love to hear thoughts from anyone with experience in real estate, financial strategy, or noise mitigation.

Building a strong team is essential for success, and we’re here to help.

When we moved, we turned it into a rental, hoping this would be the start of our real estate journey—something we’d like to continue once my husband retires.Some key details:My husband is active duty and will retire in 3 years.We have one final move coming up this summer to Raleigh, NC.Our current debts are crippling us—the high interest makes it tough to stay afloat every month.The plan me and my husband are thinking bout:Sell the rental property.Use the proceeds to pay off all our debts, set aside emergency funds and a down payment for our next home.Free up $1,500/month from debt payments, and that also can stash in a high-yield savings account.Regain full VA loan entitlement, allowing us to purchase a multifamily home and use the house hacking strategy for up coming move.Avoid capital gains tax, since April marks five years of ownership, and the tenant’s lease ends in May.This wasn’t our original plan, and we hate the idea of using our equity to pay off debt.

However, some investors don't mind this strategy if they prefer not to put a lot of liquid in up front and plan to refi out within a few years of closing (which seems to be a great option with the talks of the FED reducing interest rates this year).It really comes down to investing in a growing market, in a good neighborhood & building a great team to support you.