@Michael Johnson what I found as a rule of thumb is 75 units to be the threshold.The only way to really make that decision is to plug in the numbers and see if you can pat the on-site staff and still remain in the reasonable range of OpEx to Income ratio (%50-%55 for tenants paying bills property and %60-%70 for ABP properties).Every property will reach the balance point at a different number of units based on it's specific income/OpEx situation.

It has been improving it’s ranking since 2009, and has been in the top 25 for economic growth since 2014.Manufacturing is still a major industry, but with new investments from GM and Tesla the city should see some stability in the industry.Alumni from Michigan State University provide a good base for high tech and research jobs in the area.Orlando, FLThe economy has been improving every year since 2012, and the economic growth ranked #9 on the Milkin Institute’s 2016 report.Tourism remains the main industry for the area with Disney and Universal creating a lot of jobs in the area.In addition to the Tourism industry, Orlando has a strong Health Care industry, which will help it attract retirees.Raleigh, NCThe economy has been in the top 15 of the Milkin Institute’s top growing economies for the past 10 years.The Research Triangle that includes NC State, Duke University, and UNC Chapel Hill support a lot of growth in the R&D industry and the alumni provide skilled workers that attract businesses.San Antonio, TXThe economic growth has been in the top 25 of the Milkin Institute’s top growing economies since 2008.In the past, the economy has been highly tied to the Oil industry.

Send me the address and I'll give you my take.We don't know what the market is going to do we don't know what's going to happen with inflation but one bad outcome for you would be if you sell it at the wrong time and property value start to go up in a few years with rising inflation.

After you 1031 you'll have the remaining depreciation from the $100K and start new depreciation clocks on the excess basis of $300K over the unadjusted basis of the original property. 

It is worth keeping in mind that the Fed controls the short-term rates, not the long term ones (now that they stopped buying long term treasuries and even then it was indirectly), which are much more influenced by the long-term expectations of inflation and the international flow of money (think, is there instability in Russia that causes Russians to pull out their money out of the country and invest it in the safe-heaven like US, is the unpredictable and shifting US policy going to keep the US dollar's status as the de facto world currency, etc).

I do believe that if your taxes will show your annual income, your employer has remained the same, you have that nice reserve of cash and your scores are excellent you will have no problem obtaining a loan.  

Any remaining term left on your homeowner's policy should be refunded to you on a prorated basis.  

And what about targeting mid+ income earner potential buyers and FSBO, etc. sellers that couldn't sell, at poorly researched / inflated asking prices??

Each Buy should not need to be about a specific amount of monthly cash flow after Refinance, (so long as it does remain positive).Why NOT focus on higher cash flow?

We live in a part of Boise, ID that has inflated rental and home prices, so we shelled out a decent amount for the place every month ($2,400 plus all of the utilities).