We have run in to numerous accounts of this.

Or are there other methods you’d recommend that could align better with my goals?

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

By adopting the house-hacking method—living in one unit while renting out the others—we plan for the tenants to cover the mortgage and gain valuable property management experience.

Hi Pixel, Check out this article about how DSCR loans play into the refinance part of the BRRRR method.

Direct communication with the builder has been the most effective method in my experience.

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

I also agree that RE appreciation is unlikely to match the last dozen years, but you never know.Where I am unsure we agree is that paying $450k to improve the cash flow ~$3k (your numbers but I expect my delta wold be similar meaning both my cash flow estimates would be worse than yours but both would be worse by the same amount not affecting the difference) makes sense especially if the cost of having the extra $450k is only 6% rate which is historically simple to beat via numerous investment options and hopefully no one is investing in RE for an expected of 6%.  

Brandon Turner outlined this method in one of the older podcasts and there are previous posts in the forums.  

Once you have that amount of units (leveraged), focus on paying those off via snowball method.