Value has dropped about 30% since the purchase, but it was a perfect home for us in a fun area of Baltimore City (Federal Hill) in our mid-20s.

@James M.Everyone's tax situation is different and likely why income taxes are not factored into rental calculators.With that said you can roughly estimate your taxable income from rental activities asProjected Income less projected cash expenses(not including principal) less depreciation multiplied by your federal and state tax marginal tax rate.

One very popular alternative in Phoenix is to house hack with a casita/in law suite/additional dwelling unit.

For example, the Federal Reserve in New York concluded that tax code changes in 2017, which capped some real estate deductions, resulted in reducing the volume of housing sales.

The reason BRRR is popular is because it allows people to create equity through buying the risk in highly distressed assets.

What your DTI is depends on who is calculating it and how, it's not a formula that's to be found in federal law or anything like that. 

I have seen that to be a popular trend among suggestions and will definitely look more into that!

Absentee Owners have been popular for a long time, and are apparently still somewhat effective (people are still mailing to them) but they are getting multiple offers to buy their home.

@Amanda BucksonThere may or may not be a requirement for the LLC.You should look into the federal and Texas requirements for LLC's.Depending on activity level, there may be no federal requirement.Texas does not have a state income tax but they do have a franchise tax on LLC's.Talk to your CPA.

The 10,000 limit effects the amount I can write off of my federal taxes.