I started my career as a commercial banker a long time ago, but have been an independent mortgage broker for nearly a decade.

You can learn to do this independently or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way.

Now Im looking to maximize my potential, gain some financial independence and start making my money work for me and not work for my money.

Nevermind the unlikelihood that any ONE of them is appearing in the top 10 that often (especially at the rate we're getting bookings, I know we're not showing up on the 1st page nearly that often), it's statistically impossible for 30 listings to show up in the top ten 50% of the time even if our 30 listings were the only ones in the entire market, instead of there being 20,000 other listings.It makes no sense. 

To answer your title directly, house hacking is entirely worth it and if you're willing to be a landlord it's 100% the best springboard to financial independence.

Did not do independent appraisal and independent inspection.

Quote from @Jeff Nash: Take a look at Independent Financial.  

You can learn to do this independently or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way.

.: I would go HELOC for sure that would be best as others were saying the lower cost for the money changes between paying a higher rate for a personal line and typically personal lines they want a higher monthly charge as well independent from the interest rate.  

Looking for guidance on options. new builds aren't hard to finance and I would argue they are preferred to existing fix and flip loans, especially if you have experience. banks look at your experience, your builder's experience, loan structure, permits, etc you need to get an experienced builder familiar with advanced underwriting and negotiations with local, regional, and national lenders. in columbus we do ground up construction for clients at a 20% discount so they can BRRRR out of the new build with equity and we have pages and pages of data on what we build and why and it's all supported by market statistics.