Hello bigger pockets! Seeking advice for 2nd & 3rd property acquisitions

[Jeremy G.]

Hello biggerpockets!

I'm looking for some advice!

History + current situation is as follows

so I've owned my 3 unit property for about 5 years now. I recieved a down payment grant of $5k and put 0% down out of pocket for an FHA mortgage, infact I recieved a few $checks$+keys at closing. My credit when I first got the mortgage was around 650 but I have gotten it up to around 760 today. Current mortgage balance is $159,000, current value is $300k-$350k. It has been the best financial decision I have ever made in my opinion and I want to own more apartments. I've lived in the 2 bedroom unit and rent out both of the 3 bedroom units. The mortgage is $1,500/month and I collect $1,500+$1,200=$2,700/mo in rents. I make aprox $60k-$70k per year at my w2 job. I have about 80k in other debts not counting the mortgage which include: vehicles, student loans, credit cards and a roof that I just financed for 0% interest for 12 months.

I absolutely hate living in an apartment. So i am very eager to purchase a single family home, however I also want to buy another apartment building. Im trying to figure out the best course of action to take to accomplish both.. there is a 5 unit property that i am extremely interested in but am unsure of what directions to take.. my mortgage interest is 5.25% if i cash-out-refinance my interest rate will go up to 7+%. Ive been looking at Helocs and home equity loans to borrow approximately $100k-$140k, consolidate the 80k worth of misc. Debt and use the rest for a down payment on a DSCR loan on the 5 unit property im looking at, then waiting a few months or more and trying to get either a conventional mortgage or another FHA loan to purchase a single family property to move into then rent out the 2 bedroom unit I currently occupy. So I would then have 8 apartments hopefully fully occupied.

Am i dreaming? Or does this sound reasonable and possible? Bad idea? Good idea? Am I missing anything? Are there any other options I should look into?

I was thinking I should lock in a Heloc now even though interest rates are so high, before property prices drop, because if I wait till property values plummet I won't have any equity.

I've read mixed information regarding dscr mortgages, some say equity lines and loans can be used for down payments some info says they can't. I have yet to speak to any lenders regarding the situation because I'm the type of person that wants to have as much information as possible before I jump into things and make a fool out of my self because of ignorance. Which is why I'm coming here after doing a ton of searching on the web.

also, it is thanks to bigger pockets that I found out about house hacking and the main source of information that helped me decide to go this route. So thank you biggerpockets!