Balancing that with wanting to do something to maintain affordable housing for those in mid to lower income brackets.  

Now I have two vacancies and lower rents than when we started. 

A colleague recently closed on a 12-unit property in San Antonio and shared that a 6.8% cap rate, combined with lower property taxes, made it a no-brainer.

Generally, there are more prospective tenants who may behave this way with lower-priced rentals.

For more expensive properties you'll be wanting to pay a lower interest rate and doing short/mid term rentals.

I just saw today that I might finally have a second tenant placed (Both to pay $1250) but I’d still like to fire her and hire someone with guarantees around tenant placement and that charges a lower percentage.

Thus, my taxes should be higher because of the income I generate.If I pay off the primary, I'll increase the amount I'm able to save monthly not having the mortgage, while also keeping the income generation lower on the rental because the mortgage remains open.Any thoughts would be appreciated! 

My plan is to live on the upper unit and rent a room out to a buddy and turn the lower unit into a midterm rental.

BAM Capital is excellent in identifying opportunities with a high "yield on cost" which reflect their experience to operate Class-A properties at much lower costs. 

It's a riskier loan given you do not carry a social security, no US credit & no experience.Due to increased risk comes mitigation (Lower LTV & Higher Rates)