After that, my goal would be a steady stream of income while I take a few months to re-assess and figure out the next step in my career. 

If you refinance, you can always use a DSCR loan on the next purchase if you think the refinance will impact your Debt to Income ratio.

Section 8 comes with benefits like reliable government-backed income, potential tax advantages, and lower vacancy rates.

Our Situation:Two couples, new to real estate investing, each with one working spouse with a high income (W2 and 1099) and one non-working spouse plan to go 50/50 on a new construction STR which will not close until Spring of '25. 

All this spending and lack of income for many counties is starting to shed its light now and people are going to have significant sticker shock.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with zero or negative relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560, little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

In Colorado Springs, STR will certainly get you more income than a LTR but its often more time-consuming to manage as you have new people in your home every couple weeks.

That's more than half a year of income, plus you are probably paying management fees.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with zero or negative relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560, little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

I picked up a 7 unit, all in 150k, with about 30k YES 30K net income on about 53k gross.