It's been a bumpy road, but have been pretty much going it alone with the Lord!

Adding the current mortgage and utilities would be roughly $1,350 resulting in a profit of $650/mo.That a pretty good amount of profit/cash flow to apply to your mortgage on a larger house.

I think finding property is pretty easy compared to managing.

Probably not, but I'd see what my CPA and attorneys have to say.Be a pain having tenants pay you twice too.Also, passive income is already treated pretty favorably after deductions such as depreciation.

Charles P has some pretty good points.

He is obviously doing very well as a STR host but his mentorship is pretty expensive for not having much of an online presence. 

Pretty much any regular bank / lender is going to require themselves to be in first position on all the properties... so I don't think a HELOC type solution is going to work across multiple properties with multiple lenders.  

Even the 3400 would be pretty amazing if you could swing it.The bottom line is what a place like that would bring.

I know for a fact it wasn't going to be pretty.

Pretty much every small business other than some obscure ones that are excluded (see below) If you have 12 Single Member LLCs that own your rental properties.