I feel that any investment that makes financial sense according to your goals is a good place to start.

DSCR loans are based off of down payment, credit score and either actual or market rents so it helps to supercharge an investor's real estate goals and net worth.

Also, if you goal is to continue scaling, a real estate CPA could be a great resource for accounting and tools like DSCR loans can help your grow quickly, especially for cash-flowing properties. 

I think you would need to ultimately know what your goals are and honestly what your budget is.

Set a goal and then connect the dots by taking action each day to reach them.

Your goal of buy and hold and flipping so soon seems very difficult, especially with a young child (our first is due in January).  

Our goal is to design/build a house that can legitimately be a big SFR or a Padsplit property.

So I’m trying to see if I take that equity off the table and re-invest the sale proceeds in another market across more doors where we’ll see better appreciation, OR if we continue keeping it as a rental and work on principal pay down even though the rental price has been coming down and the home is not the easiest to fill because of the above average price for the C- to B neighborhood.Ultimately, my stated goal has been to build appreciation (over cash flow) by acquiring 1-4 doors per year for the next 10 years to allow my wife to retire (or be work optional) by the time she's 50.

Both can align with your goals—just weigh the cash flow vs. upfront cost trade-off!

Our goal is to create a dynamic that both parties can benefit from and be happy.