I recognized quickly that I couldn't continue to scale this thing by myself, so I brought in a partner who had the same vision and work ethic as me.

I could live in the house hack for very little freeing up much of my income to deal with the burden of my student loans or I could continue to pay over $1,000 a month for my apartment and my student loans as well.

Once you have at 5% of a down payment saved up and a better idea of what area you want to invest in and your end game goals, house hack a multi family and continue working/saving.

. $15k less after than after refinance but the tIme value of money comes I to play because I want to move to the next deal now.

If you think she knows how to play the system, have your attorney  handle it and use this as a learning experience.

Obviously, you should play with the wording.

Our current plan to continue our journey toward financial independence through RE is to sell the SFH at the beginning of next summer and move into a duplex or a fourplex and self manage the property.

There will propabaly be investor qualifications (accredited or sophisticated) but it’s a great alternative that allows folks who want to get out of a participation (hands on) ownership role and 1031 up into a more risk averse large MF building while being hands off.The sponsor will take fees of course like a normal syndication (most likely) and the returns may be slightly less, but you should still share the appreciation rights and ultimately just continue to 1031 up and up.Happy to answer questions.  

As we grow our property footprint I'd like to find a CFP who understands the role real estate can play. 

Even with the change to the NOO STR laws in Nashville, there are approved zoning developments that will allow you to continue to invest in those areas.