Military deployment money Lessons learned?

I’m happy to help and share what I’ve learned!

OP not sure what your missing and the degree to which your missing.   1.  

This is a nation wide issue but just want to make sure you realize.

@David Cherkowsky, the lender will take the full rental income reported on the tax return, for that property, subtract it from the total expenses, add back depreciation, property taxes, mortgage interest, home insurance, HOA(if applicable), sometimes repair expenses(must be documented), divide it by the total amount of months the property was in service for that year (THIS NUMBER IS ON YOUR TAX RETURNS, SO MAKE SURE YOUR ACCOUNTANT DOES NOT PUT 12 MONTHS), and subtracts it against your total monthly mortgage payment.

I agree with the notes above but will also caution you to make sure you're very conservative in your underwriting for the multi-family properties with more square footage.

Lessons learned?

A great place to learn and research.

I found out pretty quick my skills from years of running LTR didn't translate to STR and had to learn a whole new set of skills (some of which I already had from a career working with the public).  

Quote from @Fernando Martin-Gullans: Hey y’all, I’m a retail investor with 2 SFH rentals worth a combined ~$650k looking to utilize some of my stored equity to buy more out-of-state properties, but I’m not quite sure how best to proceed given that my interest rates are incredibly low (leaning me away from refinancing) and neither property is owner-occupied (which I believe prevents me from using a HELOC).