If you are going to be an owner-occupant, want a low down payment, and are planning to do a renovation, the FHA 203k and Fannie May Homestyle loans are your best optionsHow do you know the property is currently upside down on the mortgage? 

Quote from @Fernando Martin-Gullans: Hey y’all, I’m a retail investor with 2 SFH rentals worth a combined ~$650k looking to utilize some of my stored equity to buy more out-of-state properties, but I’m not quite sure how best to proceed given that my interest rates are incredibly low (leaning me away from refinancing) and neither property is owner-occupied (which I believe prevents me from using a HELOC).

Everybody thinks they can paint because they can - you get a brush or a roller, a can of paint at Lowe's and away you go.

Bad customer service (from the partners), unprofessional client information management, ridiculously long underwriting, and I’ll add this..a low-key throwing of their loan officer under the bus for information “he did not know” or “must have been mistaken” about.

A low maintenance condo rentable to good tenants sounds like a good starting point to me.I’m 56 and reasonably setup for retirement, so real estate is a stabilizing diversifier for me.

They didn't actively advertiseour home on websites and we had low tenantresponse.

Note you must be an accredited investor to participate.A con that turn some people off DSTs is they come with higher fees than out right owning a stable, low maintenance property; however based off what you described DST fees are far below what you are currently paying. 

this is a nice thought and catchy name (GATOR) LOL.. " The man in the new suit is getting rich on your dreams "  Stevie Winwood  Taffic low spark of the high heel boys.

But I do think that the overall quality is very low compared to the rest of the US.

Looking for a house we could house hack, had an incredibly low interest rate on mortgage and house has increased in value about 42%, an estimated 180k in equity.