In order to convert current home into rental and to come in under 50% DTI, I'd have to take out an interest only HELOC on our current home and consolidate $50k of consumer debt into it.We haven't owned our other 3 rentals long enough for the rental income to show up in our DTI calc.

I feel that paying down consumer debt is the best first step.

For example, are you a MF cash flow consumer or a flip?

The credit card pulls will pull down your scores.Wow that is a major benefit of having a broker.are consumers able to do that by law?

It will consume too much of your time and will more than likely distract you from your investment goals without giving you anything of real value besides the option to sell houses as a side hustle. 

Fast forward 3 years... we’ve both built our credit, bought our primary residence, have two kids with a third on the way, solid middle class jobs, and some consumer debt.We were gung-ho to get going in 2019 after bonus and tax time to get a rental property finally.

., transfer the LLC shares to a Trust at a later stage to avoid probate), and any other advantage that may come up down the road.Then the other LLC would be with my wife, so we can operate it as a business - tax advantages to using pre-tax dollars to purchase consumables used to operate the AirBnB, and then for her to derive an income at the end of each month.

Big banks to me are only good for buying consumer products I probably shouldn't be buying in the first place.

You will get cash flow and tax write offs after you move out.Over half of my modest portfolio is houses I used to live in.

You will benefit from the education and networking, but more importantly, you can position yourself as an expert in the multifamily nicheIntern for a multifamily investor: find an experienced investor who is currently doing what you want to do and proactively add value to their business for free to get in the doorStart small: start with an SFR to 4-unit and work your way upAs you will notice, all of these strategies are time consuming.