The easiest way is to bring on a partner who has a lof of capital they are looking to deploy, but I always encourage having sufficient reserves.  

He had an opportunity to deploy his savings into a fixer-upper that would and is a great midterm rental.

I would always recommend getting the heloc to have cash on hand ready to deploy.

If you re-deploy it towards another property, then you can continue deducting 20% of the mortgage interest against the new property.

Where if they were using those funds to dollar cost average in marketable securities, they could keep 100% of that capital deployed and be asset allocated optimally based upon their retirement horizon. 

In terms of getting into apartment complexes and large transactions - it's much easier than you think.Real estate is filled with opportunities to deploy capital, but in the same time is filled with fast-talking snake oil men that will happily take your money towards a "fund" so you own a portion of a large portfolio... only to find out the fund's performance is below par, your money is locked out, and the only person making money is the fund manager from the management fee they've locked you into. 

I returned from a deployment in 2019 and bought my first home with my VA loan with 0% down in 2020 and then a few years later (2022) I had alot of equity in my home so I got a HELOC of $30K and used it to buy first property.

They have been very hesitant to deploy capital, especially if you don't have a track record. 

If you have a larger portfolio to deploy, they are not going to be close enough to fulfill your needs, and you will have to find other options.

I can afford to have it be an investment for my kids and not cash flow for me, but I could also deploy that money elsewhere.