To mitigate risks, I strongly encourage getting a home inspection to fully understand what you're buying.If the property checks out, this area can be a great addition to your portfolio.

Investment mortgages, like DSCR loans for investment properties, typically come with prepayment penalties (PPP) to protect against prepayment risk and the keep portfolio CPR in line.

This looked intriguing, but I'm worried that YNAB is less user friendly for my situation.Queue the back story: I work as a realtor with a small RE investment portfolio, and my wife is a more stable W2 Engineer. 

($5,000/$300) x $250,000 x 25% = $1,062,500For most people, this is an unattainable amount of after-tax savings.If you buy in a city with a high appreciation rate, you can grow your portfolio through appreciation and cash-out refinancing.

Exactly why you probably are not looking to add to your portfolio there!

If I stopped the example here, most would say the portfolio of $100k homes is the better investment.Next, let's assume you decide to sell the Market B homes in year 3 because you are frustrated with the cap ex and management of the tenants in the lower tier houses because you are not achieving the expected cash flow.

I have used Hero mortgage for a portfolio of houses in Texas and a STR purchase in FL.  

If we need customized items, like a Leasehold DOT on an airplane hangar portfolio, then we (borrower) pay extra. 

Quote from @Jamie Banks: I use Baselane for my portfolio. 

The second scenario would be if you didn't have enough capital to invest in real estate the traditional way and wanted to start to build a portfolio.