. - AOA Debt Reporting Service: letter sent w 120 days to pay (with credit bureau reporting) after which it rolls over contingency plan with collection agency getting 38%.I know I would not want the task for what they charge.  

Used your HELOC to fund the down payment on a second property if the right opportunity presents, otherwise those returns wouldn’t be juicy enough for me to take on more debt for the sake of scaling if you’re buying at retail. 

I sank every dollar my rentals provided back in to paying off debt and acquiring more properties.

He has owned it for over 30 years and has no debt, so seller financing is possible and he doesn't need a large amount of cash soon. 4 of the 6 units have been recently updated. 

Two, you'll have a much easier time obtaining a mortgage product if you have a track record of W2 income.In the meantime, continue implementing the strategies you mentioned: save religiously, build your credit, pay any existing debt owed, etc.

Using HELOCs or IBC to pay off debt (simple vs amortized debt) method is effective, yet investing in assets such as rental properties or syndications might be a more strategic use of available funds than debt repayment.

As I studied earlier, the first thing you should do is marketing, then get a call and do a property analysis to understand if it's profitable for you, then meet with the seller and sign all the necessary papers, then if there is a debt in the bank we do a reinstatement quote, then do a title search to check if there are any hidden debts, if everything is fine we look for an investor or flipper and sign an assignment of contract with him and wait for closing to get our money.

The challenge we're facing is the lack of short term rental data for the appraiser, and we won't know if it will meet the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) requirements until the appraisal is complete.Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

no debt? 

The major pieces of information you are missing include NOI which includes deducting all of your operating expenses from your gross rents sans debt service, market dynamics (what are vacancy rates and asking rents like in the market the building is located in?)