The ultimate goal here is to retire as soon as possible and not wait to grow equity over 5-10 years to be able to retire. 

Then focus on growing your money. 

I also have about $200k invested in the stock market (not retirement account).I’m looking to buy my next investment property to grow my portfolio.

You might study up on this Atlanta business that is growing their business with private offerings (funding)   padsplit.comThey have a shades of gray solutoin for the unrelated adults, and rooming house zoning that is sort of working in the Atlanta area.   

I know Charlotte is growing, so I'm hoping for some appreciation long-term and I know cash flow can be harder to come by these days.

There are plenty of valuable contacts, relationships to create & grow, helpful bits of information, etc.3 things I'd recommend for a new BP member looking to make the most of the platform:1.

I have this theory that basically the stock market can grow faster than the fundamentals more so than housing, reason being when people put money into their 401k or whatever they are just throwing money in, not looking at p/e or whatever, the stock market is in part just an index of Americans excess savings plus it’s a unstated policy of the government that stocks go up, where as housing people are obviously very very aware of how much thier monthly payments is/ how much rent is, plus it seems that is actually a push to lower housing prices at least relative to inflation.

You can grow your network of not only other investors who could potentially become partners if you bring them a good deal, but you could meet real estate agents there who may have clients looking for partners on deals.

On the other hand, these both are markets that are growing steadily so once you improve the property the equity is there.

Purchase only one bedrooms as people grow out of them fairly quickly.