House hacking is the BEST way to get into real estate investing and that's how I personally got started as well too.

What do you think is reasonable or do you shop it out to a wide net and close the deal when the first person signs ?

Perhaps HELOC on current property, sale of some under used personal property, etc.HML terms kind of scare me.

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

And I feel the ideal portfolio can benefit from the diversification of both.1) Holdfolio isn't a match for me, personally (due to not enough experience, skin in the game, etc).

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

Personally, we use Foremost and are very happy with them.

The answers are individual specific; people can tell you what they'd do, but without a thorough knowledge and understanding YOU it won't have much relevance.Here's my suggestion - read books, search for biographical information, and become familiar with people who have accumulated a good size portfolio of real property, to see how their ambitions, experiences, knowledge, and personal attributes align with yours.  

Is this really the person with qualifications to provide a review? 

I can do the parade of horribles for a personally owned rental property but suffice it to say that it is a long and robust parade and the horribles are horrible.