As always, make sure to run the numbers carefully and factor in local property taxes and HOA fees, which can vary widely in North Texas.Delayed gratification is key in real estate investing, but with patience, the rewards can be life-changing.Best of luck with your search

Instead of jumping into an expensive Long Island market with negative cash flow, consider investing in a Texas market like San Antonio, Houston, or DFW suburbs—these areas offer strong rental demand, lower property taxes than NY, and better cash flow potential.

If you’re interested in investing in real estate, you can consider doing so with a Self-Directed IRA to defer taxes on capital gains until you actually withdraw the funds from your IRA.

We are in a very low tax bracket this year but should be 10% higher in 2025.

This would end up getting you some tax benefits and extra cash flow that could help you leverage that into another property...maybe a 1031 exchange.

and that was owner occ.. todays rates are pretty normal actually. what you can do if you want though is find a really good HML and let them place a loan for you making 10 to 12% while your wait for things to change to a situation that you feel you want to move forward be more net return than buying a rental thats for sure. of course no tax bene's but there really is not that much tax benefit on one rental.. so just some alternatives. 

An annual business tax as a hotel of $50 and collection and remittance of transient occupancy tax of 12% from renters is required of all short-term vacation rental operators.

I have a confession: my only duplex, which I gave owned now for 2 years and recently moved out of from a house hack, has proven to cost me more to maintain/pay taxes/repair/fix etc to the point where my cash flow is close to zero.

The home burns and the incredibly over taxed CA FAIR plan has either gone bankrupt or takes years to pay out.2.

I am told that they did not have closets as they used to be taxed on rooms that had closets.