Circumventing DTI Requirements

[Brian Crutchfield]

Hi all. I posted this question in another post, but it seems I kind of "buried the lead" in a long post with details on my current situation, and no one felt like reading all the way to the end!

Quick background:

My wife and I are fairly new to REI. We moved out of our SFR and rented it out. We are currently "house hacking" a duplex. We plan to move out next March or so, and into a new SFR. If you're interested in the full background, check out this post:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/347...

My questions are:

1. How are people getting around DTI requirements once you start to own multiple properties? Will any lenders go to 50% these days?

2. Will lenders use rental income if leases are in place, without years of tax returns? I'm also reading that the rule of thumb is to use 75% of rental income to qualify for the next mortgage. Is this fairly standard practice?

Thanks to anyone who can provide any assistance. Also, any advice on what we have done so far (see linked post) is welcomed.