The right idea is going to be the bread and butter.1) Ideal location2) Quality properties over quantity of properties3) 1.25x DSCR4) Intention to hold no less than 8, but ideally 12+ years.5) Sufficient cap reserves6) Mechanisms to enhance cash flow(via alt investing or house strategies).7) Liability protection through no PG loans(if possible), LLC formation, property management and being a diligent landlord.8) Invest deeper, before wider.Now if you're talking where to invest, different information.

Deal makers-  development potential, vehicles per day, road ingress egress off highway, signage potential, multiple road accesses, value add potential- housing- trees, boulders, ponds, walkout, views, right side of town, power-line right of ways, etc6.  

And as you already know, buying the home as your primary residence will help you take advantage of the best loan product there is.

As far as refinancing, you can either do a conventional loan where they use your debt to income / DTI to qualify or you can use a DSCR loan which structures the loan off of the rent versus income ratio.More info on DSCR loans: DSCR loans won't use your income to underwrite the loan. 

I you take out a loan your name, an actual person must sign it.

My biggest fear is that if I ever were to quit my job, I would no longer be able to invest in more real estate (not sure if I would qualify for loans as easily). 

Typically hard money lenders will lend a maximum of 70% of the ARV so if you are below you will have more flexibility on the initial loan and the refinance (better terms or higher cash out) and of course more profit if you sell

Hi Frank, sounds like you’ve built a solid foundation and have exciting plans ahead - If you're planning to scale, you might also want to explore hard money loans or DSCR loans alongside private lending.

@Meena MallikFrom my experience, securing financing for commercial real estate involves understanding your options, such as conventional loans, commercial loans, private lenders, or partnerships.

Here's how it works:If their deposit is $1,500, they can either choose to pay the SD in full or elect to take out what is essentially a loan with Rhino Insurance and only pay $25 per month ($20 goes to Rhino and the remaining $5 goes to the PM company) toward their $1,500 SD.