Personally, it seemed like a 1031 exchange was the better way to go for tax management, as opposed to the opportunity zones, but I would be interested to hear what more experienced people have to say. 

I'd much rather invest in the only duplex in the neighborhood as opposed to buying a duplex surrounded by other rental properties.

Now the bank would have nice, new piece of collateral to hold.Would I have a better chance to get approved for the cash-out REFI opposed to the initial mortgage to go out and buy the house? 

Which even 4 years ago I would have taken a 70% dirt advance and really juiced our return numbers kind of like syndicators do with debt on their projects as opposed to raising all cash to buy apartments..

I did not know there was a preference to lend to LLCs as opposed to individuals in the hard money world. 

Just yesterday I had a post deleted when I explained that yes, a new home will likely have a capex requirement under ~10% of rent,... but if that new home is held for 20 years,.. or even more than 5, THAT is when you’ll appreciate the capex account being flush with cash as opposed to your driveway being flush with bmw’s.

@Ali Boone My wife and I are certainly leaning towards investing in a investment property as opposed to a primary home.

This means there has been a strong uptick in the demand for vacation rentals as opposed to hotels.

2) These areas look to favor single family as opposed to multi, is it worth the hassle of opting for an area with multi family (2-4 unit) to max out income per property?

If you purchase via an IRA (as opposed to a 401k), you will need to open an IRA account at a specialty trust company that allows for investments in real estate.