On top of that, our rent drastically decreased so that helped.

Here in Reno, NV we have seen a 3% decrease in rents but an increase in the median price of a home. 

When investing 50-60k you ve got 2 optionsIn an area where property value won t go up and the rent won t be high(but probably low tax and low hoas)  or a smaller property but where the value will go up and rent will be higher (but higher tax and hoas).In the 1st option, it will never change until a major real estate investor makes a deal with the city and decides to turn the area into an upscale one.In the second option, you are already making money; on today s market I ve sold a few units of mine on which the return is at 8% net and the value of the property is going up 15-20% each year.What you don t want is flip the property too many times in the course of 2-3 years, because of the real estate commission that as a consequence increase artificially the market price and decrease terribly your margin/gains.If you sell 70k from which you substract real estate commission(6%) and title fees, you ll end up with less money to buy a similar property that therefore you won t be able to buy(or re-invest in that case); so you ll be losing money and only the real estate agent will be making money.

@Timothy Church I have recently been interested in Galveston vacation rentals - but feel that the supply could soon outweigh the demand, coupled with the impending legal implications of cities trying to curtail the rise in these.Basically, with 1,200+ units to choose from, a holiday goer will soon see rapid price drops to try and gain bookings from the owners as their occupancy levels decrease...What's your realistic short-term and long-term predictions in this space, and do you think there is still viable potential here?

Agreed, using a HELOC and buying cash gives you more power but substantially decreases growth potential and cash on cash return.

That may sound pretty good...until you discover that their net worth is decreasing at a rate of $2 million per year, and they've got $100 mil of adjustable rate debt on a portfolio of D class properties that forces them to work 80+ hours per week just to keep the whole thing afloat...Investor B tells you "my net worth is $1 mil" --to many successful investors, that sounds like a relatively insignificant net worth...but, investor B owns a portfolio of A class properties with zero debt, professionally managed, their cashflow is $500k per year, their net worth is increasing at a rate of $1 mil per year, and they only have to work about 1-2 hours per week to keep their machine going.Personally, I'd MUCH rather be investor B than investor A (even though investor A's net worth is 10x of investor B's).So yeah, tracking net worth is advisable, but it's only a small part of what an investor should be tracking and modeling, and net worth alone might not be very indicative of an investor's success...An effective investor creates models to help them strategize, and those models inevitably include net worth, but they include a LOT more than just net worth (and as a result, they can be quite time-intensive to create)...but, the things that are most worth doing usually ain't easy...

@Sam Faas I am simply looking for other ways to decrease costs regarding my rentals.

With only 3% down, it will be tough to do though you will also be living in it and presumably decreasing your living expenses as well. 

As an engineer, I assure you that the rent multiplier method always produces false results, decreasing the accuracy of return calculations.

If it isn't a legal 2 family I think you might just look for one family to rent it to decrease your issues or you will need to explain the situation going in to the new tenant.