@Christopher Ewing Have you listened to the Biggerpockets money podcast talking about this?

My wife and I started in RE having come from no significant family money.

I would say that my advice will greatly depend on your goals and what resources you have to invest with (time, money, skills). 

Sorry to tell you,  I don't think I've ever met a section 8 Landlord that actually got all the rent money. 

My plan at the moment is to live at uncles house to save money, finalize things I need to do in my location and find an apartment that has a short term lease of 6 months in Dallas.

I spent a good amount of money and never got a single deal.

After three months we will be able to cash out refi .75 and pull out all of our upfront money less about $4.5k pending final appraisal.

Putting 20-25% down can help save you some money on your rate allowing for a little better pricing.

I've been told my breaking even was costing me money.

Quote from @Basit Siddiqi: Investing in Oil and Gas is somewhat of a gamble.The way that I see oil and gas investments have one of two likely outcomesA) Lose all or close to all your moneyB) Get 10X your investmentTo answer your question you can potentially do a roth conversion and offset it with oil and gas investments.In doing a Roth Conversion the tax due is lost money when paid.