Just wondering if newly weds can still qualify for the exemption and if my wife not being a citizen will hinder any capital gains tax exemption qualifications.

Consider consulting with a real estate professional or financial advisor to help make an informed decision based on your individual circumstances and goals. 

@Erika Caba I think if at the end of the year when you can evaluate the situation as a whole with everything taken into consideration and are looking at your tax returns if your goals have been accomplished with this building, whether it’s positive cash flow, off setting W-2 income, whatever, then I’d say it’s too early to throw in the towel.

With hard money loans (fix & flip loans) you don't need to be employed or show taxes and you would get say 80% of the purchase price + 100% of the rehab money to fix the property up.

Is investing out of state a wise decision for someone only making 50K (before taxes) in an expensive city ? 

(I could probably get this increased but I'd have to get primary residence Sq ft re-evaluated since the basement is finished and heated but of course thay would increase my property taxes.)Thinking about refinancing primary residence and taking money out to do the additional building. 

It's recommended to research and understand the market before investing, and consider consulting with a financial advisor or real estate investment professional for guidance.

Many of my consulting clients complain that they get no hits and when they do get interest, the offers are far below the rate (like 50%).

These numbers should be determined using a combination of the historical financial data available, feedback from your property management company, your business plan, and the property characteristics.Generally, you can expect per unit numbers like this:Repairs & Maintenance: $200 – $500 per unitAdministrative: $150 – $350 per unitUnit Turnover: $200 – $300 per unitContract Services: $200 – $500 per unitUtilities: $800 – $1,200 per unitAdvertising $100 – $300 per unitPayroll $1,000 – $1,600 per unit (very market specific)Insurance: (very market specific)RE Taxes: (very county specific)Again, these are very general per unit numbers but they should help provide you with guidance. 

so most people will have to be as leveraged as possible to scale (at the beginning). as in, keep your LTV high and focus on buying 'as much' ($$) RE as possible. this is if you're doing a pretty run of the mill REI strategy like buy and hold. i came across an interesting guideline once: if you could sell today and net 7x+ your annual true net cashflow, you should cash-out/refi, or sell/1031. think of it this way: if your portfolio in a year is worth 1m market value, and you owe 600k, and have a lender that will do a portfolio loan at 80% ltv, you could cashout refi and get 200k to play with (minus closing costs). when you compare the now-lower cashflow from the existing portfolio (higher LTV & maybe different rate), to what you can do with 200k cash, THAT'S where it gets fun. maybe you lose 1k/mo in cashflow on the original portfolio (literally just made up a number, idk), but you can gain 2500/mo in cashflow with that 200k.. then doing the cashout/refi earned you a net increase in your monthly profit of 1500/mo, plus you're getting debt paydown and appreciation on "more" real estate, probably getting bigger tax benefits, etc.