Don't know how the area your in charges water but that can be much more over time compared to water heat.

Take the bed/ bath number and compare to Airbnb rates in the area of property in question.

Inventory in Austin dropped to an absolutely insane 0.9 months with a 29% decrease in active listings compared to the December prior.

Finally, a property manager who is responsible, reliable, and professional.Overall, the decision of who you work with is much more important compared to the township you choose to buy in.

I'd look at the blended rate of your 1st now with what you'd be looking at on the HELOC, and compare that to the cash-out refi rate on a 20Yr Fixed. 

If you take two comparable homes of equal quality, condition, age, features and location but differing sizes, the smaller home will invariably show a higher value for $/sq ft.That number is somewhat useful in a development where there are cookie-cutter homes that are identical in every way, but unless the development is new, some will have been upgraded and/or updated and others will not.Your best bet is to get contractors in to bid on both a gut rehab and a tear down. 

@Jonathan M Peters you're asking the right questions, and as Cory shared, understanding how your equity (or money in) is performing for you compared to other opportunities may answer your question for you, or at the least, will give you a baseline to measure other opportunities by.The big disclaimer is you need to get educated on the process and pros/cons of performing a 1031 exchange.

You need to way out the pro's & con's to figure out what the best scenario for you is.When you compare a HELOC to a HML, you have to look at more than the interest rates and fee's.

No rent control, easy evictions compared to CA.

I initially was looking to put 50% of the finances down and do the work but compared to their experience , I would be doing allll of the work.