we invest in defaulted debt and have looked at it in the past.

My sacrifice… no haircuts and no fast food. 1 job full time, 1 full time side hustle. 0 debt at the time other than student loans.

prices are high, interest rates are high, there is tremendous demand for inventory, and - one thing that doesn't get mentioned enough - a record number of properties are debt free. 

Never invest in Longterm assets with short term debt.  

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

I don't anticipate things to be that bad this time, but the value dropped over 25% back then and we are unsustainable at the point of the affordability cycle we are at now.You basically will be buying a monthly debt, speculating the value of the property is eventually going to go higher than you bought it for.

The banks thought I was a dead beat because of my debt to income ratio.  

The problem is, that's not proper accounting because a credit card is a liability, and doing this workaround will reduce your assets rather than increase your liabilities, which totally messes up your balance sheet and debt-to-income ratios.  

I’ve often seen this happen where initial approval is given, but debt-to-income issues arise once they discover you’re purchasing another property.

Utter blasphemy, only "unsophisticated" investors buy in cash.An experienced investor once told me "why use my cash, when I could just default on OPM" I know its not popular thought on BP.. and of course ramp up requires it unless you inherit a ton of dough but as we age out I sure like free and clear and no debt.. just the hassle factor of having to make payments :)