In the end, you are going to need a little more insight than you’ll gain from this forum to know for sure that they are doing everything properly.

I’m starting to read and go to meet ups to gain as much knowledge as I can.

Be willing to work for them for free if you have to just to gain more knowledge. 

Without experience, it will be difficult to gain a quick approval with a small amount of money in the deal.

I am a newbie to real estate and am looking to gain knowledge on the industry.

I want to make sure I understand the nuances correctly before making this suggestion to to my better half, so hopefully BP can give me good advice about this and make sure I'm thinking through the repercussions correctly.TL;DR My wife hates living in the South and wants out ASAP and our owned primary residence doesn't come anywhere remotely close to cashflow potential, so how do we leave before the 2 year mark while also avoiding a hefty inflation-induced capital gains tax bill?

For me I just feel better studying first to gain a basic knowledge and then seeking to start to make some deals.  

I have multiple (jumbled) ideas below:- Wait until I have owned property for 2 years, sell it and use 1031 to reinvest gains into additional properties.- Refinance / cash-out refinance to pull equity out of current home, in order to leverage cash for new deals.- Keep current house and partner with private lender to help buy an additional propertyAll of the above scenarios are assuming I need to put 20% down because I can't get a loan without putting that much down for an "investment property".

When you sell, you subtract your basis in the property (the original cost and any improvements), and the remaining amount is a capital gain.

IRR is just one metric, as lane mentioned, its easy to manipulate with a huge exit gain in year 5.CoC is another useful metric...