It's stopping me from scaling to a much larger portfolio leveraged versus a smaller paid off portfolio.  

Yes this is possible.Go check with your original lender on the first property if you had one. 

Tenants stopped paying electric and water.

I had a STR for about 4 years before Fort Worth gave me a letter to stop.

is this an all-in-one loan? 

And so, in other words, you may not be limited to just one program.”If you want to learn more or see what you qualify for, be sure to lean on the pros.

Keep in touch with your lending partners for each one so you can understand whether you need departure residence income to qualify for the next or not.Finally, if you're investing with a Significant other, I recommend considering a "leapfrog" strategy where you buy one, then your partner buys the next, and so on.  

However, did that stop you from moving forward?

As far as I know, your assumptions about the tax implications are correct for non residents, it was one of the main factors that stopped the idea of investing in Spain for me.

I'll never stop investing in rentals though and providing properties for my investor friends.