Need some advise about financing options going forward

[Zach Liu]

I am a starting buy and hold investor and I bought my first rental property last October. Got it rented out last December and it looks good now. So I am ready to move forward and acquire more. I talked with a mortgage broker today and got a little frustrated. Here is my situation:

I have two mortgages, one for my home and the other for the first rental. Because I was not planning when buying first home, I used 15-year term and now my debt to income is 39% which is pretty high from lender's perspective. I was told I can still finance a 120,000 property but my goal is to acquire at least two more this year. 

The problem I have is that I have about 100k budget for the year so 120,000 is far from enough for me to borrow. And if I buy one property by cash, my debt to income will go higher and I won't be get loans any more.

I thought getting my first property rented should count as some income but just realized it takes two years for lenders to consider it positive. 

To make it short, I have some cash ready and my credit score is 740, but because of 39% debt to income already leaves me few options.

Any advice will be welcome:)