Shows he has a saving perhaps because a transfer was made from it. 

It’s hard to imagine the bills they are paying instead of $700/mo to save their home.

Downside is money is typically more expensive. thats reason why many do not pull triggerdepends on person, I know some who are ok paying 12%+ 2 points on a $1M property as they figure ok they are spending an extra $30k on a deal but they can get it done a month or two faster which they may save that money in the long run. 

If you are truly able to get $1000 cash flow each month-figure out how much you'd make after 5 years renting it (factoring in repairs, vacancies, etc) vs selling it (assume prices stay the same) and putting that money in a high yield savings account.If you didn't have so much equity in it and rates were still low, I'd definitely say keep it as a rental. 

But once it's running, the operational savings are real.

i’m trying to determine if I need to just save more money or not.

I’ve saved up a start-up fund and want to approach this the right way from day one.A quick background:Location: Dallas area (planning to focus on nearby neighborhoods with strong resale value)Start-up funds: $100,000Experience: Limited hands-on construction experience, but I’m highly motivated to learn and do the work needed to maximize valueGoals: Find solid under-market property, perform smart renovations, and flip for a profitable return while managing riskI’d really appreciate:A high-level roadmap for getting started (finding deals, due diligence, budgeting, timelines, and partnerships)The must-have team roles (realtor, lender, contractor, inspector, designer, project manager)Red flags to watch for in fixer-upper dealsRecommended resources (books, courses, podcasts, local Dallas market insights)If you’re willing to share a simple, practical plan or link to a template for a beginner’s flip checklist, I’d be grateful.

Cash Flow CushionFinally I check whether the deal still produces reasonable cash flow after:- Vacancy- Maintenance- Property management- Capex reservesIf it barely breaks even on paper, it usually gets worse in real life.Most deals fail somewhere in these five checks, which saves a lot of time before getting into detailed underwriting.

Margaret, I want to give you the actual answer with the IRC citations since you asked a specific question and mostly got "hire a CPA" responses (which, fair, but you already said the CPA meeting costs more than the savings here).

The loan will need to be non-recourse, and as you note, there will be some nominal tax on the debt-financed portion of the income.Definitely reach out to some of the specialty banks that offer non-recourse loans such as First Western Federal Savings in SD and North American Savings Bank in MO.