Let's say that a young couple that makes the median US household income follows the Dave Ramsey Plan and is able to pay off all of their debts in 18 months.

Even at a 200k household income I’m being told by family we will never get approved for a 500k home with that debt from rentals even if they’re cash flowing nicely.

My household income allows me to save $20k post tax dollars a year and ~40k pretax dollars per year for allocation to real estate rather than stocks/bonds & speculative instruments. 

Also, the higher your household monthly earning, the better this technique works. 

For example, I like to look at the long term trend of unemployment, median household income, and average home price.

I didn't take any depreciation, I did a bit of improvements to the rental half of my 2 family, and I need to change head of household status and dependants.

If you have a net loss on your residential rental activity and actively participate in the rental management, then you can use up to $25K per year in net rental losses to offset your other ordinary income (that is income from your W2 job) provided your total household income is less than $150K per year.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol,_VirginiaThe median income for a household in the city was $27,389, and the median income for a family was $34,266.

I don’t have high risk peeps in my household.

A: NC SAFE applies to “residential mortgage loans.†These are loans made or represented to be made to a natural person or persons primarily for personal, household or family purposes, and secured by a mortgage or other security interest on a dwelling or residential real estate located in North Carolina.