HI Blake,You can always start off by house hacking meaning you live in one UNIT or ROOM and renting out the other vacant units/rooms to offset your monthly mortgage payment.There are several ways to run and make sure you are maximizing your rental income while keeping your living expense as low as possible.

I would use my equity in my house for a short term purpose with a quite sure outcome of paying off the line. 

Does anyone know where I can find off market properties to purchase for rentals???

Current Assets:250k in 403B (max contribution)25k in 401k (wife 401k)400k in HYSA at 4.25% (need to move a lot of this, previously was saving for local Long-term Rentals... but haven't put enough effort into this."30k in checking50k in VTSAX15k in Disneyest 20k (bought side lot adjacent to property in 2020 1/2 acre for 15k... paid off)est 60k (bought back lot adjacent to property in 2020 3 acres for 45k... paid off)est 280k equity (Home valued est at 600k bought for 380, 320 remaining on note at 2.7% in 2020.

Sounds like you are off to a great start.#1 we have relatively few duplexes in the whole North Texas area it seems, compared to other parts of the country. 

The goal would be to refinance after 5 years, use appreciation to pay off 60k, and cash flow would continue to increase over time. 

Would the STR loophole be a way to write off large RE losses this if you don't have REPs status?

where do I start, Outdated fuel box need to be replace, had to add a French drain due to flooding. etc etc  I think I would of been better off being my own GC doing everything myself. 

Take this 💥just-closed renovated property for example💥:With my query of "22757 Charlemont Pl, Woodland Hills, CA 91364 5/4/2400-3050,0.6,300" we get an ARV Estimate that is ~4% off, and I picked this at random just scrolling through recently closed in my areaAnd the Market Stats $/sf of renovated property in that Zip Code matches up pretty well, so I know the ARV estimate is realistic:You can also run Agent Stats to find/get in touch with the real top-agents in that area so you can triple-verify everything and/or list it with them when you are done.With the above, I am able to quickly vet every new deal that comes my way and spend more time on the good ones.

For example, did you retire various assets that need to be written off?