Wealthfront savings account 4.55%...5.05% for three months with a referral bonus...FDIC insured up to $5 million.

We are tempted to increase curb appeal. landscaping and facade improvement to generate more interest.  2,500 4/3 mother in law bonus. it looks like maybe 20-25k. concerned about recouping.

You also may want to look into bonus depreciation options. 

There are no house hack deals unless you want to do a ton of work so you often will need to overpay, in theory, and try to live in the smallest unit or bonus unit to cash flow the majority of the property.

They're basically doing rehab flips and selling them to investors with the added bonus of having a tenant in place when you buy and them providing PM services.btw: I do agree with your logic on Texas.

Most of the income is from base + cash bonus.

I put $20,000 in to convert a bonus room to a master suite in order to get a 3 bedroom rental.

It doesn't necessarily have to cash flow while you're there (that would be a bonus!)

I've recently secured a significant bonus from work which will allow me to pay off some consumer debt (credit cards, collections, etc.) to build better credit and save about $15,000 to begin my investing journey.

Do we / can we use to 179 provision to bonus depreciate the vehicle to cancel out the 60k of income?