Kudos to you for doing something to create a secondary income stream. there are 5 income streams in RE rentals, possibly six if you do things a certain way.The reality here is your model (buy box) is suffering from too high an entry and too high a cost of capital.

I'm confused why would you say that rental income is taxed in an IRA?

I mean, in terms of real estate, how bad are NINJA loans (No Income, No Job, No Asset)? 

. - Established and actively managed AirBnB's will continue to be consistent income producers with a gradual growth in returns. 

What if you're a cardiologist with no debt and making $250,000 annually?

They tend to all have good incomes, little to no credit, and are self employed with lots of family.

If they pass all of the checks and have the proper income then they have a shot at moving in.

From experience, I’d recommend getting pre-approved, improving your debt-to-income ratio if needed, and researching local assistance programs.

You have used home equity lines of credit to purchase investment rentals and want to know the best way to pay down the HELOCs.Between the two properties you bought, after expenses, you have $250 a month positive cashflow to use.What I like to do is pay down some principal every month with my positive cashflow.I use my extra active income from real estate commissions helping other investors to pay down the principal even more which just frees up that credit for me to use again.I know I can refinance the HELOC debt before it changes to principal and interest as it is just interest only payments as yours are.One difference is the cashflow, I have greater positive cashflow and could make the principal and interest payment in the future with the extra cashflow I already enjoy.I always get HELOCs on my income properties as well after purchasing them to pull out as much of my downpayment as possible.

Quote from @Erick Pena: A "good" rental property is one that covers all expenses (mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, property management fees, and any other costs) and still leave a surplus (commonly referred to as cash flow).Calculate cash flow as: Cash Flow = Rental Income − Operating Expenses − DebtThere's much more to it, but that's the basic idea.