It was an answer to your question, not a directive.

Do a 1031 exchange and scale higher?

If I were a lawyer I would tell every investor with one rental to do the same thing probably. 

Sounds logical, however they forget that there are many players out there that do not play fair... 

Building costs swing wildly depending on where you are and how custom the build is, but here’s a quick reality check from what I’ve seen lately:Basic spec or builder-grade new construction: around $225–$275 per square foot.Mid-range custom or semi-custom: more like $300–$375 per foot.High-end custom homes (especially with slope, trees, or tight access) can hit $400–$500+ per foot real fast.A lot of folks forget how much the site adds — clearing, grading, utilities, septic, driveway… those things alone can tack on $50–$100k before you even pour a slab.As for permitting, brace yourself.

Quote from @Barbara Johannsen: When you purchase a performing note, how do you estimate the future buyer market if you want to resell later?

@Rik Hunter,Rik 🙏 I couldn’t agree more — owning rental property does come with the responsibility to do right by others.

everywhere you look, gurus are telling people to start wholesaling by doing agent outreachthey make it sound simple,  just call agents, get deals, and make quick moneybut the truth is, this advice is misleading and it’s hurting the real estate marketagents are getting flooded with calls from people who don’t understand contracts, laws, or even what wholesaling really meansit wastes time, damages trust, and makes agents less likely to work with real investors who actually know what they’re doingwholesaling can be done the right way, but not by spamming agents with bad advice from youtubeif people want to wholesale, they need to learn the business, follow state laws, and build real relationshipsanything less just adds more confusion and gives wholesaling a bad nameso if you're wholesaling, I'm telling you try off market deals first, get the experience, build up the capital and once you're able to start buying houses then contact agents

If you are doing a live in flip and can do it knowing you will be refinancing no earlier than 12 months and can cover the HELOC, mortgage, expenses of flipping and any other items that come up (repairs to the other unit, and vacancy) you will be good.

If you do it the 6 times, and you can with the same amount of money, you're $1,520,502 ahead of everybody else.