I just had a tenant that tried to rent one of my houses and YTD income in September was bigger that YTD income in December.

Typically, furnished rentals are for shorter term stays, so the tenant is most likely going to be able to deal with whatever your style is.Should be able to command much higher rent depending on the area for a furnished rental - minimum of 50% more than LTR.One option could be to lease the house and sell / lease the furniture in a separate bill of sale / contract.

I’m in an area with a serious deficit of housing and it’s still taking me at least 3 weeks to secure a good tenant.

It's a duplex in Chattanooga (technically Red Bank) and we will be house hacking for the next couple of years to build some momentum and experience.

She did so and left a note with the person who showed her the house. 

Our boomer population's housing needs are exploding! 

Yesterday I found out that my old neighbor who moved away to take care of her father, inherited the house next door upon his death. 

One of the strategies I am strongly considering for my first deal is a multifamily house hack.

I have saved up some money but my goal is to save up at least 20k in a year before I start looking for options on house hacking in a duplex.

Typically, the STR property tends to be priced at 10x of the annual gross revenue, so let's assume you buy a house for $500k and you can get $50k a year in gross revenue.