Once capital is deployed and timelines are set, correcting course costs more.Professional investors don’t eliminate execution risk — they plan for it.

This would allow you to take the first $250k ($500k if married) tax-free, and you could deploy that into multi-family or something with a better cash flow potential.

Trevor, since you're asking about maximum ROI, let me actually run the numbers on both scenarios so you can compare apples to apples.Quadplex House Hack:- Purchase price: $350k (midpoint of your range)- Down payment (5%): $17,500 + ~$10k closing = $27,500 total capital deployed- While living there: you're essentially living for free or near-free (huge savings vs paying rent elsewhere)- After moving out (~1 year): ~$1k/month cashflow = $12k/year- Cash-on-cash ROI: $12,000 / $27,500 = ~43% annually- Plus you're building equity and getting appreciationBRRRR scenario:- Purchase: $120k property, hard money at 20% down = $24k + rehab costs- Here's where it gets tricky: rehab on a $120k property could easily run $15-30k, especially if you're hiring it out.

But be honest about whether Colorado is the right market for your first flip, or whether you should deploy capital somewhere with better cash flow numbers (Texas, Arizona, etc.) while you learn the process.

How much capital can you safely deploy?

That’s worked well, but as I look toward the next phase (and eventual retirement), I want to intentionally shift from appreciation-driven growth to stable, income-focused investing for retirement income  I’m considering deploying ~$2M to buy 4-6 properties in all cash.

The purpose would be to free up cash flow to re-deploy 100% into future investment.

Capital deployed elsewhere?

With $200k to deploy and a strong credit score, a 4-plex in the Midwest is definitely doable, but you’ll want to be strategic.

You buy, rehab in 3-6 months, sell, and deploy that capital again.