Would love to hear about raising debt, possibly ... credit line investing / credit cards for downpayments...?

And these people, I don't want to learn from.Bonus third: you have people that are truly active in the business who are using mentorships to "teach people" how to raise money, and magically, those people are provided the opportunity to raise money for that gurus deal.  

I would really focus on raising capital so you have enough reserves to mediate risk.

This raises the cost of using an STR versus using a hotel. 

You are screwing yourself out of rent raises.

It seems that I will likely need a decent down payment to get a cash flowing rental property.What alternatives do I have to raise money for the down payment?

If we rent our house out, the tenant would likely cover our entire mortgage, but our HOA costs are high (they were raised a lot recently).

The other important factor to look at is the amount of reserve capital that the sponsor is raising.

On July 1st, they sent a text message saying they did not agree with the rent increase and gave us a check for $900, subtracting the "overpayment" from June and stating they would be paying the $1350 moving forward.Our town does not have rent control (we checked prior to raising the rent) but we do acknowledge that raising the rent by 33% could be seen as unconscionable although NJ law does not specify a dollar amount or percentage on rent increases.

Huge lot and 2-car garage.I raised the rents right after closing, keeping one existing tenant. 1-1 $1850 (partially finished basement with bath).3-1 $1450 (existing tenant)1-1 $1000For a total rent roll of $4300.