It’s also increasingly harder these days to pull out 100% of your money.

I might encourage you to increase the assignment fee so that you have room to negotiate. 

I see it as investing in myself and increasing the value of my assets.

Also, all the equity that is dying more and more as it grows, could (should) be buying more than just the 2 properties...which will actually be increasing your cash flow too.

We believed that the main portion of that fee would go towards the tax strategy portion where your designated ‘tax team’ would help you create a customized ‘tax strategy plan’ to minimize your taxes moving forward, while the tax preparation for a simple portfolio like ours was thought to cost no more than $2k of the total fee.

And is it really as simple as that?

Changing the deed is a sale and taxes and increases are due. 

But in general, here are some simple buy rules: You can't pay more than $200k for a SFH, can't pay more than $300k for a Duplex, 350k for a Triplex, and 400k for a Quadplex.

They sure make it simple, unlike us actual professionals

I would not suggest purchasing in the largest metroplex areas (Austin, DFW Houston, etc) have seen enormous growth and price increases in the housing markets.