That being said, I had to translate a lot of documents on my own for the loan process, so there was more effort involved.

Plus moving to your house will allow you to take advantage of the best loan programs!

Dont fall into the $/sf trap or start thinking "$50k SHOULD be able to update a small house".

Start small with duplexes or triplexes, analyze deals carefully, and build a team of local experts.

So for the first property which will cost over $1 mil to construct, there will be stacked loans, essentially $280K will come from loan assistance program,( the name is not correct but the same idea).

I was pretty leveraged with my HELOC, 401k loans, etc. but I could have been even more aggressive.I only have 12-doors though.

Granted this primarily filters out the small deals or the highly leveraged deals, neither of which I do, but making 20% on a ARV 150k house is $30k. 

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

When you finance through national lenders, in your experience, is a balloon a common requirement for commercial loans of this nature or is it possible to get a fixed rate for 30 years?  

This money gets added onto the back of the loan kind of like a VA funding fee does.