Columbus better then CincyI watched Columbus grow from 2014 onward.

Even then I only had one tenant leave the house in bad shape. 

If this is what sub2 is, then why are people paying tens of thousands of dollars to learn this process?

Do your research and run some numbers, but if you can buy a 4br house, rent out the other three rooms and be left with a very small mortgage payment, you can start saving for the next one and then rinse and repeat every few years. 

I then bought a duplex and eventually got bigger.

I'm planning on buying a small multifamily first and foremost so I have a place to live and then will either buy a single family or another multi family depending on what I can find/fits my criteria at the time.

But, given that he has a primary residence there already that he must leave (Army doesn't give much choice on location), if he isn't able to sell the property quickly for at least break even, and can't take a deduction for a loss, my thinking is to flip it to a rental (question is which kind makes the most sense), he should be able to cash flow given his monthly expenses, even if only $100/mo, then if he still sells for a loss in a year or two, he could take a deduction.  

However, if you learn the different options available and then figure out what they really want, you can often negotiate a killer deal.

For example, if the refinance costs you $5,000 then you are paying 20% of the value of the asset just to get a loan on the asset.

So if the house is worth 300k and you owe 200k then most you could pull out would be 40k (minus costs) and it would be a second mortgage most likely which would be expensive. 7.5-9.5% likely.But, you can put as little as 15% down for a conventional loan on a single family.