They will have those assets locked down so you can’t use them for about 2 years until you can get an appraisal to release them with your new equity.I would stay away from relatives funding.  

Morbid question here...but at a certain age we thing "What happens to my assets when I die?".

This is a huge plus because it offers liability protection, meaning your personal assets are shielded if there are any legal issues with tenants or the property.Doesn’t Appear on Your Personal Credit: One of the big perks is that these loans don’t get reported on your personal credit profile, so they won’t impact your credit score or debt visibility.

Just imagine reducing your living expense, owning an asset, and having your tenants pay the bulk of the mortgage, then repeating this a few times over all while every year the rents go up.

I have heard of a decent amount of people either investing/ living in Bali, it seems to be a pretty big hub for digital nomads.

In both your scenarios, the lender should be able to recoup their investment provided there are no other creditors (or at least liabilities that exceed assets).

I think this is the gift and the curse of a still emerging asset class (short term rentals) - as it becomes more "institutional" i.e. more like commercial real estate with more sophisticated buyers then financials and systems for this will likely become more streamlined and stable, but we are still in a place where the buyer pools are more newish investors or typically residential basic investors, so not has experienced or sophisticated evaluating investments based on a detailed financial analysis like more seasoned commercial investors likely would.anyways, just a guess on what might be going on here

It’s always best to double-check with your lender to understand exactly what they consider in their DTI calculation.Since you’re focusing on DTI for future loans, it could be helpful to explore asset-based lending options where your income may not weigh as heavily in the decision.

Generally if you're buying another real estate asset, and you qualify, you should always be 1031'ing. 

Your biggest asset, in my opinion, is that your husband is a contractor and can run the jobs himself.