I know most wont do that but rental income to me is not going to move the needle when your main income is real estate fee's and building homes etc hard to get excited about 200 a month :) 

Lower cost of entry, landlord friendly, low property taxes, no state income tax and only a few hours from NorCal.

My opinion is that the higher end stays will remain healthy because those guests have more disposable income while the lower budget stays will take more of a hit.

One vacant unit on a triplex is a hit on 1/3 of your gross operating income versus a duplex where it would take out half of your gross operating income.

I have a hard time imagining that I would not meet the qualification of "Material Participation in Real Estate" as a real estate professional, which would allow me to apply the bonus deprecation toward my earned income as a real estate professional.

So your taxable income is still ZERO but your qualifying income is $10,000!

DSCR loans won't use your income to underwrite the loan.

Understanding the potential rental income is crucial in assessing the profitability of the investment.Expenses: Do you have a clear understanding of all the expenses associated with owning the duplex?

Year 3 in the Second Scenario we've put $60k into the system we have $60k worth of assets (we still owe 140k on the two $100k houses) and we've made $45k in income!

I guess we feel like by paying it off sooner, we get to keep more of our income from the property sooner...is this thinking not the best?