Don't forget, just like stocks, houses go up in value.  

I am very satisfied with the rate and the terms.

You can buy an ugly house, fix it first or live in while you do the rehab.

Rentals create cash flow, and that's what we want as real estate investors, but you need cash on hand for unforeseen circumstances.The AC needs to be replaced, that's $7K to $10K or more depending on the size of the house and if you have one rental, it will eat all your cash flow, same to replace a roof, etc, or if tenant trash the home, you need money to fix it again.To me personally a nice rental portfolio that is healthy consists about 10 units, so if you have an issue with a house the portfolio can cover the repairs and still healthy, but when starting you need to have cash on hand just in caseYes, there are multiple strategies you can use to hack your way to buy your first rental with minimum cash, but I would start wholesaling or fix and flip a few deals to create that cash as fast as possible

My bill rate is $400 per hour.

Hi Latif, I will be the first to say that I'm relatively new to this, but have spent the last 6 months deeply educating myself through local RE investing clubs, Fortune Builders, BP and other blogs and podcasts, and many books.Generally speaking, the only house I'd recommend paying down is the one you and your family intend to live in for the next 10-20 years.

I was told by the bank that I couldn't do a 1031 because it's a primary residence, and 1031 are only for investments.But I also don't want to sell and lose 20-30% on taxes (lived in the house for 2 years)What's the best route?

Hey Konstance welcome to BiggerPockets I'm fairly new as well if you ever are in need of some property maintenance services such as house washing, or driveway cleaning for your future investments I would love to connect with you. 

The "failure rate" or "Pass-through rate" is where the loan officer is fighting to get an application to make a paycheck and it taking anything they can get but not putting in the work up front to avoid lost time, lost earnest money, and lost clients for realtors!

You can look at their nightly rates, occupancy and amenities to see if you can make a go of it.