I am planning to move out of the state in Spring 2026 and wonder if converting the home to a MTR would be a better strategy.

I’ve seen this evolve the same way in our portfolio, and the hybrid model you’re describing is exactly where most operators eventually land.From my experience, the breaking point is rarely unit count.

I'm on bigger pockets in the hopes of finding leads, creating relationships with investors, agents, lenders, and all of the real estate pros of there, and to eventually create a foundation of passive income for financial independence.

And that was ultimatly the reason I got licensed eventually, so I could let myself in.

We use AffordableHousing.com selectively, and I’d frame it less as a replacement for Zillow/Redfin and more as a compliance and targeting tool.What it does well• It is one of the first places Section 8 and voucher holders are trained to check• Many PHAs directly reference or scrape from it• It reduces back-and-forth with housing authorities when listings are already visible thereIf you manage or market voucher-friendly inventory, it helps keep your pipeline full with applicants who are already program-aware.Where it falls short• Lead quality is very different than Zillow type traffic• Expect higher volume, lower readiness, and more incomplete applications• The manual entry and lack of clean PM software integrations is the biggest pain point• For conventional rentals, ROI is usually weakHow we’ve made it workable• Only post units that accept vouchers• Use templates and bulk workflows internally so staff isn’t recreating listings from scratch• Treat it as a filtering mechanism, not a conversion engine• Push serious applicants back into your PM software immediatelyBottom lineIf 60 percent of your leads are already coming from Zillow/Redfin and converting cleanly, I wouldn’t expect AffordableHousing.com to outperform that.But if you manage a meaningful amount of affordable or voucher inventory in a diverse market like Tucson, it can be worth it only if you systemize the data entry and set expectations internally around lead quality.Used intentionally, it fills a specific lane.

And to @Nicholas L. point, equity eventually buys you more cash flow. 

It will rent eventually, but you will have very long vacancies in between.

I hope homebuilders can eventually align with the demand to the area.

Then, whenever that tenant eventually turns over, you bring the second side up as well.

Living for free accelerates how quickly you can stack capital, and taxes stay very clean, you still depreciate the rental portion, still deduct operating costs tied to the units you rent out, and if you eventually move out, the whole property becomes fully rental for depreciation purposes.The main “risk” I see is zoning, make sure nothing about your setup violates local rules, even if you’re not renting the top unit.