Officers all too often think the know the law simply because they wear a badge, when they actually know a lot less than most folks. 

I didn’t have much money and needed to find a way to get in the game. 10 years later, I’ve got 29 SFR that profit 19k/month (not including things breaking or vacancies).

But you are required to file a Schedule E in the US every year showing the total rents you received, the expenses you had against those  rents and your subsequent profit or loss. 

If this is simply you not wanting to accept partial payments and the rent is current, stop accepting it - and send a Lease Violation/Notice of Quit for Non-Payment of Rent - and force the full rent to be paid per the lease or start eviction.  

That means there is not really an effect on the debt to income ratio neither positive (income) or negative (loss) but rather simply making that payment  non issue. 

How much profit do you have in your current house?  

If anyone does this, theyre likely doing it as a favor and not a for-profit venture. 

Year over year we've seen impressive appreciation rates and often times investors are able to re-sell at a profit a year later with minimal to no work.

I did not want to simply rely on one source so I figured there are people here that would be up-to-date if such a manner was so as well. 

I would simply hire a good civil that has done development in that jurisdiction and pay for a feasibility study and let them run through all the check items.. but thats really just the start.. also for context .. these projects require 350 to 750k in CASH up front to get to approved plat status ..