My wife and I are new to real estate investing. We bought a lake home an hour from our main home 2 years ago. This past April we bought (10 years sooner than planned) a second home on our lake and rehabbed it over 2 m...

Over time it will become more clear and you will become more confident.

@Christopher A Brown I have 5 cabins in the Pigeon Forge Wears Valley Gatlinburg market which I self manage remotely from Nashville. 

@Alex Cornwell I have some rental units in NB as well that are currently self managed.

We could self-test after the current tenant moves out, but it looks like she plans to be there for another 3-4 years which is a major selling point for us. 

If I don't understand the fundamentals of the terms myself, how can I confidently approach the topic.

You can mitigate your self employment taxes.

@Adam FrancoFlips are recorded at your regular income tax rate, subject to self-employment tax.You figure out your final cost basis (purchase, rehab, insurance, property taxes, financing, permit fees, commissions, utilities, etc.) and the difference between the sales price and the final cost basis is the profit made that will be taxed as ordinary income.You should speak with a CPA to help organize things and try to minimize the tax impact.

That would not give me a lot of confidence that they will continue to be long-term tenants.How confident are you on your market rent projection? 

I’m just hoping for a little advice or some out of the box thinking that would help me with my self-inflicted predicament.