I cannot stress the importance of finding a very good Investor Friendly CPA.

A real estate agent shared with me a few tips on dramatically reducing design center costs with plate and Dreamfinders.

Here’s a professional perspective on your options, considering both strategy and risk:Option 1 – Rent your primary home (house hack your existing property):Pros:Generates immediate cash flow if your rent covers your mortgage and other expenses.Keeps your home appreciating in a market that may continue to rise.Builds experience as a landlord while keeping your current neighborhood and lifestyle.Cons:You’ll need to manage tenants or hire a property manager.Risk of vacancy, damage, or difficult tenants.Your cash flow might be modest if your mortgage is high.Option 2 – Sell, downsize, and invest in multi-family or smaller homes:Pros:Frees up home equity for multiple investments.Potentially faster path to portfolio growth and cash flow.Diversifies risk by spreading investments across properties.Cons:Transaction costs (selling, buying, moving) reduce immediate capital.You lose current home appreciation.Larger learning curve managing multiple rental properties.Key Considerations:Your risk tolerance and lifestyle goals: Do you want to stay put or scale quickly?

Always run numbers the same way, stress test ARV/rents, and pass if the refi doesn’t safely return capital at today’s rates.

Quote from @Rohullah Sharifi: An important point to remember is that cost segregation and bonus depreciation are not gifts or free deductions—they reduce your depreciable basis in the property.

Refinancing would reduce my monthly net cash flow to around $200–$280, meaning lower ROI and thinner margins.My gut says it’s worth it since the additional property could generate more cash flow than I would have without refinancing, but I’d like to hear from others who’ve been in this situation.

Hey Chuck,Totally get where you’re coming from — that “first deal” stress is real.

This way I never have to worry about doing another 1031 (nor will my kids), fees, long lock up periods, and the stress of finding that perfect exchange property. 

A simple way to work through it is by getting in more reps: stress test a deal with conservative rent and padded expenses, talk to one lender and one broker this week to see what options are out there, then practice by analyzing five deals a day and aiming to make one offer a week.

For example, if you don't have a fence, shed, or other 'other structure' I would reduce that coverage to the minimum.