When any little hiccup comes along that most of us did not financially prepare for we Demand the GuvMint do something, like my stock portfolio dropped 25% today in 10/87, so drop interest rate to Zero, thanks Maestro Greenspan, or again in 3/2000 when Yahoo.com didn't somehow grow into its projected 30 trillion dollar market cap based on its PE of 700, drop rates to Zero and keep 'em there for 22 years except for brief interludes of sanity (inflation got above 2%), or in 2008 when no one with a pension fund in America took any damn responsibility/oversight and gave their retirement funds to crooks to buy whatever ratings agency rubber stamped dogshit inverse synthetic CDO they could get a commission on, then were shocked, laying on their fainting couch clutching their pearls when the financial system reliably imploded, so drop rates to Zero again and start Monetizing/printing the debt, and now with the most predicted pandemic in history, Americans hadn't saved a damn cent so we cried to the GuvMint, send us 7 Trillion dollars now, I need a new Lambo!

My wife and I own a handful of vacation rental property units in Michigan, our home base.

For these investments, if they are both properties you are able and willing to buy, I would make a decision based on revenue/expense assumptions.

I know it's been a year, but if you're still in the game, here's what I have to say.

Then tell the agent to run comps for ARV based on updates you do.And you also said you can't afford to lose $20-30k, the most seasoned flippers/investors lose money all the time, and ultimately that is part of your education costs, hopefully you don't make any costly mistakes, but you have to run your numbers well enough to make sure there is some 'ooops' fund to help shield you from that.As for comps, typically, appraisers want them to be in the same neighborhood, within 15% same square footage, same # beds/baths and age.

A financial planner, CPA, and others may be better resources for you in deciding which is the best play here based on the immediate health needs and life expectancy.Hope this helps. 

Take a look at the list and keep in mind that increases are based on what they used to be priced at (growth) not at relative cost to each other.

I’m a truck driver recently just moved out my apartment to cut expenses and start this journey of planing the long game with real estate.

(https://audr-apps.franklincountyohio.gov/Calc/TaxEstimate) Based on that estimator, with the current purchase price the property tax would be ~2.5x of what is currently being paid.

I am based in Pensacola, FL and looking to purchase a duplex for the purpose of house hacking to get my feet wet in the REI game.