If a HELOC isn’t an option due to income requirements, a 1031 exchange into an apartment complex could be a smart move to boost your monthly net cash flow and diversify your portfolio.

I would still work with a title company on this and let your lender know (if you have one) of the name change and what you are doing so they do not think you are selling the property.Another option would be to create a living trust for estate purposes and transfer it into the estate.

Housing options were few.  

If you are just starting it sounds like house hacking may be an option for you. 

You should find several good options.

Quote from @Michael Fish: I, too, am interested in investing with their promissory note option.

Sure you could do a money market or put it in an ETF or something, but this is one of the options where the balance "can't" go down or is extremely low risk while making a decent yield.

I grew up in WNC and still have family there so that is an option and even have placed offers on cabins in WNC to make an STR but nothing has panned out yet for something like that.

This is one of the options I was considering as well. 

+1  Real Estate Investing Data and How-to Guides - This here shows that you can filter to Multi family but I don't see it as an option as well.