If married you can exclude $250,000 each in capital gains if your primary residence.  

Recommended Long term rentals are the way to go at first, Medium term and short term are strategies to look into though once you gain your bearing.

When investing in high cash-flow markets, I always recommend working with an investor friendly agent so you're able to gain the right insight on the different areas and the risks involved.

@Steven DeHart I'd start off listening to the podcasts and gaining as much knowledge as possible.

Not giving tax advise, so check with your CPA, but I sold a rental after it was my primary for over 2 years and as long as it was considered my primary residence "2 of the last 5 years", I did not have to pay capital gains on my property sale up to the IRS limit. 

Mentorship and joint ventures are excellent ways to gain experience, and it’s essential to start small, communicate clearly, and build trust.

Even in a perfect world with no maintenance and no vacancy, you would pay $700/month or more in the hopes of gaining equity.

So adding one more unit to a duplex may deplete equity gain even if it improves cash flow over here. 

Rather the equity than the taxable gain.

Others may see it differently but I wanted to share as someone that has nothing to gain by sharing or not.