Our instincts are to eventually rent it and use the income for payment assistance on a new home mortgage.

My goal is to leverage that equity for additional income.

So often rentals don't have taxable income; and once they do it's still not subject to the payroll taxes paid by W2 wages or on self employed income. 

Our instincts are to eventually rent it and use the income for payment assistance on a new home mortgage.

., overall portfolio stability or income growth).Be cautious when setting pay expectations.

This is obviously much better than $1,400 per month.On top of that, you will now get 2x the depreciation write-off so your taxes should go down.On top of that, you will now get 2x the appreciation when real estate price go up.On top of that, your tenants are helping you pay down the loan, initially at about $100/mo for both properties, which gradually gets better and better.On top of that, you now have more units so if one or two goes vacant, you have more renters covering the losses of the vacant units.If you want to keep these properties, I would do a cash-out refi and go buy more rental real estate.

When I did my first house hack in Columbus I showed very low income on taxes. 

Hey BiggerPockets community,I’m in the process of defining my investment strategy, and I’d love to hear from those with more experience.I have enough capital to pursue one of these two paths:1️⃣ Build a Single-Family Home Portfolio: Gradually acquire around 20 SFHs using the BRRRR strategy or focusing on positive cash flow properties.

3) Average income was up 4.5% in 2024.

I'm not 100% sold on being a landlord, but listening to the Bigger Pockets Money podcast is gradually changing my mind.If anyone has any resources, let me know.Thanks.Hey @Geoff Engel, welcome to the BP Forum!