Newer and bigger will take you out to the suburbs and country/smaller towns outside of Austin, for more square footage.As Eric points out, you stand to gain some appreciation on the home you ultimately buy, since the Austin metro is well positioned for sustained growth over the next couple of years.

Eventually, those who bought to hold earlier end up being unable to sustain the original rents they were getting, and they then rent it for what the market rent drops to.

This is due to the compounding benefit of the tax deferral through time.It can be hard to sustain the 4-7% advantage over time because it becomes almost impossible to keep all your properties 75% leveraged.

And if you need steady income right now, getting a job may also be in your best interest unless you have large cash reserves to sustain you.Good luck with whatever you decide.

Understanding the economics of a turnkey operator's business model can definitely help you get a sense for the value you're getting and the sustainability of their operation.From what I can tell, the most successful operators have complementary revenue streams of fix & flip margin plus property management.

Option 1 is much more direct; however, if you decide to go this route, you'll end up with more properties and more cash flow as well as the responsibilities that come with that additional property.The refinance also has some risk, you'll be refreshing the loan there and basically starting over on that... however, if you're able to successfully re-fi that mortgage back to a conventional, and sustain the increase in the mortgage payment, while you apply for another FHA and hunt for another property to get into, then you should be fine.But that's what I think will be your biggest challenge, just making the jump from the current property to the multi.

I would also be interested in hearing more about your blog biz success, its sustainability, etc.  

(I'd disagree that Pethworth prices has always sustained & will always go up--another neighborhood that I think is overrated.)

Pro-tip #3: Make sure your market size is big enough (at least 200 targets) and that you can sustain a campaign for at least 4+ mailings.

I am able to sustain myself off my rental portfolio, and that is more than most can say.