Questions to ask yourself are if you are able to service the larger debt payments on your own if the investment goes south?

Is it invested in stocks or funds that will need to be liquidated, creating a taxable event for you?

I have about $13k liquid to use for this first project. 

So the upside is a bit larger initially for a sale versus cash out refi.With refi, payment would come out to roughly $750/mo for mortgage, and estimated rent payment at $1100.PM comes highly recommended, well known to business acquaintances and family.Re: 1031, we already would have someone lined up in TX, if we decided to go that route.  

Which may not seem like much different but when you move to larger properties it can be a $5-7,000 difference which starts cutting into profits.

Leverage REP status to use other losses against capital gains in the liquid assets of the company (invested in EFT's, etc)The policy for loss distribution would be:-All must be active (preferably material) participants to get deductions; hence the 20 or fewer so relationships can be maintained-Non-REP's can take up to $25k/y as PAL.

Wanted to make sure this was not something out of the ordinary that was a symptom of a larger problem.

would you judge if a person is overleveraged by their income their bringing in and/or how much liquid assets they have in banks, mutual funds, etc.?

I am considering the possibility of selling 4 duplexes in 4-6 months and looking in to something larger.

My problem with larger MF is the initial cost.