@Kristi TietzI'd be very careful using this tactic to get started, especially if you plan to use borrowed money to lend out such as HELOC or credit cards.

I just purchased my first investment property in Fletcher, NC (about 20 min outside Asheville) which I plan to use as a short term rental.

You'll need to plan to pay it off within ~10 years, too.

Your property management company will at least have the expenses of creating the company (I would strongly recommend creating an entity), bookkeeping, tax preparation and the 401k plan setup and management fees.

So, create status codes for both of these and a few in-between codes to help you work smarter, not harder.Which answers the “how” and is a very workable plan.

I suppose you could work out a plan with the tenants to do a more gradual increase of the rent rather than doing it all at once to be more income-friendly and to allow them to attempt to budget for the increase but you may also risk losing them anyway. 

It's great to hear about your real estate investment journey and your plans to expand in Houston.

Replaced floors, scraped popcorn ceilings, repainted inside and out, remodeled bathrooms, updated fixtures.

The amount of the gain exclusion when the house is sold will likely be impacted, I recommend your family member speak with a CPA when they plan to sell just in case their fact pattern has changed. 

I still have my first investment property from 2015 and plan to keep for many more years.