First time poster from Southern WA (Portland, OR area)

[Kevin E.]

Hello all.  I just wanted to give an introduction and see what advice is out there and potentially meet others in my area.  I am trying to get going with RE investing and don't quite know where to go or if I am just a little too ambitious at this time.

I recently (last year) got out of the Army and relocated my family of 5 to southern WA to start laying down roots and purchased my second house here, the first is being rented out in AK. I have been looking for a way to grow my portfolio but need some guidance on where I should look and what I should be on the lookout for. The rental in AK is in a great rental market where vacancies are typically less (much less) than 2 weeks but due to having such a short rental history it still counts against our DTI.

The questions I have would be: how long do I typically need to wait before the rent counts towards my income rather than against me as a debt? Is there a good next step that could keep my family located in our current house? We are currently building our savings each month in addition to paying down our car payment to also help our DTI.

Thank you all in advance.