And if it also has a low interest rate then I'd keep that ting.Use your credit and liquidity to purchase a new property. 

Anything under 75,000 or 50,000 you might want to consider a local small private person or friend and family as hard money wonders do not that low dollar amount.

Total expenses (include formulaic maintenance and vacancy rates)4.

Hi Rose- Few things to note about buying an investment property.1) Expect to be putting down 25%, as this is most lender's required downpayment on "investment" properties.2) You likely won't be cashflow positive unless you are putting >50% down, OR are buying in a C-class or worse neighborhood.3) Starting out with a condo or townhouse could be a great idea if you're just looking to get your feet wet with landlording- It is less maintenance than SFH or MFH, and you will gain invaluable experience managing a tenant.Aside from the financial challenges, I think it's great that you have the mindset to grow your portfolio.

The reality is the assessments are correct, but when you do the math based on the tax rate (which in most locales has also gone up) our property taxes on our properties is up an average of over 10%…I know some will say “fight the assessments” but honestly I think some of them may be low (and truth be told I would guess less than 5% if people contest assessments).I am curious, have others started to receive their assessments - and were you in sticker shock?

Are the home prices so low that investors can afford multiple properties at a time?

I'm very familiar with self managing in terms of the tenant screening process, getting the tenant moved in, and maintenance etc issues during tenancy, but this will be the first time I'm trying to prepare for a tenant move out.

Here is 3 scenarios: conservatively projected low/medium/ and scenario 3 is actual recent net returns  (unlikely repeatable right now) I'm looking for alternative ideas to deploy $150-200k down payment on a much larger investment than a 1br house, so I can play the appreciation game as well as the income game.

For that reason, we use Innago and it works great for collecting rent, fees and maintenance request.

Stable rent with annual increases, low turnover and long term.