In Dallas, the combo of appreciation and rent growth will likely still reward you.Bottom line:Yes — it’s realistic with $400k, but you’ll want to:Focus your search in the Dallas suburbs where duplexes are priced in range.Treat this as a hybrid: live almost free, add value, and refi later — not a fast BRRRR recycle.Use this deal to learn the ropes and build equity.You’re doing it the smart way — start with a house hack, cut your living costs, and let the property set you up for the next move; I hope this help you out a bit tried to organize it as best as I could, I sent you DM on BP and hope you can assist. 

So posts like "do you need to sell your house fast" is not going to cut it.Actual value so that people like and share your posts.The best maerketing is done when you cross pollinate your efforts.Send them to your youtube video, and from therem send them to your instagram.

Now my business model has shifted to 70/30 rental to for-sale development but only in locations where I can build/renovate without taking any short cuts, absorb any expenditures thrown my way using licensed and insured workers and really let the real estate work for me rather than having to work for my real estate.

That gives you a serious edge starting out.For long-term rentals on the Emerald Coast, I'd look a little inland from the main tourist areas.

Your background in commercial interior design could actually give you an edge — you’ll have a good eye for properties with potential.For getting started, the biggest thing I’ve seen help new investors is building a system for evaluating deals quickly and knowing where to focus your energy.

It cuts out a ton of red tape from traditional loan underwriting and allows you to close faster.

I was working with an investor who had multiple rental properties. They were frustrated with how much they were paying in taxes—even though they were “doing everything right.”
Turns out, they weren’t taking advantage...

This maximizes exposure and cuts down on time spent manually posting across platforms.2.

But it's NOT an incentive for applicants to pick us, most tenants don’t even recognize what I’m providing, much less care… Eventually I just may cut that out too as I think the whole thing is just unnecessary.  

in detroit, our condo resale market is def a buyer's market. we're seeing "price-sticking" in sellers, where they basically are stuck on the prices they paid for their condos in 2020-2022. so these sellers are less willing to cut prices and negotiate with buyers. therefore, our condo resale market has long DOM and has very much slowed as buyers have less buying power. many owners are renting their condos instead of selling rn.however, on the new construction front (condo or sfh), those go very fast. still a seller's market for new builds. probably due to limited supply, so demand eats up every phase of development when they hit the market.there's demand for sub-$200k homes (lots of fha buyers), and we see closing costs concessions for buyers added on top of the list price, rather than eating into seller's net. so still a seller's market for that asset class.and it's a buyer's market for value-add, but i feel like prices were higher in q4 than i was expecting for value add sfh. so for sfh, our prices are still appreciating. we also had our first population growth in 2024 since detroit's bankruptcy, so that is helping sustain demand in our value-add and sfh market.