Poorly built, poorly maintained, but free housing.

In your case, you’re at least getting steady rent while you learn the ropes.Once you get the actual lease and estoppel, feel free to share the key points and I can help you interpret anything that looks weird.

While we have ~$25k set aside for this purpose to use in some capacity, we aren't sure whether we should try to make a play for something local in Greater Austin (given the challenges cash-flowing something and the depreciation we're seeing) or to look somewhere like Shreveport, LA where the rest of my family live (and could potentially help with property management).Unfortunately, something like a HELOC isn't on the table, as we bought our house in July 2021 and have seen significant depreciation since (although we have a 2.75% interest rate, which is nice!). 

Thus, we were wondering if we should just put together an LLC with multiple members (most being our friends, two being us), pool our money, and work a deal without asking them to pay us anything, solely to build up our resume and add to the portfolio as free and fair partners.

I'm certainly willing to travel and keep an eye on things but my vision is to find a market I can play in and build my network there.

When a deal is more of an equity play than a cash-flow machine, the tenant experience becomes your competitive advantage, especially in HOA communities where you can’t do much outside.A few things that tend to move the needle for renters without blowing your budget:1.

These are long-term plays.

Wholesalers can definitely help you move quickly on a first deal, but one resource a lot of newer investors overlook is the role that a good real estate or mortgage broker can play in this process.

(When I work with investor clients in markets like Tacoma with those nice sub-2.5% rates, the play is usually: run the cost seg now, see how much the 481(a) deduction helps this year, and make sure they can actually use the loss before paying for the study.)Good Luck,

A safe play for me has always been section 8 housing, but doing such requires a lot of education before then.