We didn't make any profit on the house but we did gain valuable experiences.  

My understanding of Capital Gains from the forums and podcast is that I wouldn't have to pay Capital Gains since I have lived there as a primary residence for the last 2 1/2 years?!

I would also like to piggy back any information I can so I was wondering if anyone could recommend any starter books that can provide some valuable insight.

I am doing some research for folks like you - figuring out if a model like this would be valuable.

I am a flipper who is also interested in building a rental portfolio to gain financial independence.

On one of my California properties.. turns out we have some pretty valuable Tiger salamander habitatdepending on the study we do... mitigation is between 165k to 195k per acre with 1 to 1 and up to 3 to 1 offsets.so 165k and acre to potential of just under 600k per acre to mitigate these guys.. cash to the govmit.and this is just one thing that needs to be addressed... usually the whole property is not affected but a neighbors property is 10 acres and 1 acre is affected depends on 1 to 1 or 3 to 1...now our property is worth 1 million an acre as development ground.  

I am assuming you are an accredited investor to gain access to those tapes.

I am now closing on my 2nd property sometime in May and so I will be going back to house hacking until I gain enough for a 3rd property. 

I was crushed, but learned a valuable lesson...don't sleep a property when the numbers work out.

The 'sell' properties had higher mortgages on them by about 25k (all properties are worth about the same).Well, here we are 3 years later and I just sold one of my 'dogs' for a 100k gain.