I’ve accumulated quite a bit of knowledge over the years and am beginning to create opportunities for myself and now, others. ** Any good books, podcast or blog posts on similar topics that I can read?

Our biggest challenge is moving away from traditional lending means as we do not want to wait to accumulate 20-25% down payments in savings before buying multi-family properties.

The best thing you can do in starting out (in addition to reading and accumulating knowledge) is analyzing deals in potential markets that you feel you want to invest in.

I know a lot of colleges say "buy the neighborhood not the house" and I know of those who say "you have to speculate to accumulate."

All the while, the cash flow per month will accumulate.

-AustinI suspect on average you will achieve greater wealth accumulation on your VA RE than the higher cash flow properties in Memphis. 

@Brian Garrett I am not trying to over-simplify things here but I will for the sake of brevity..So I could potentially accumulate multiple properties over the next couple of years which are all free and clear due to my getting my initial money invested back from these strategies?

Adequate insurance will be more than sufficient to protect you provided you do not make the mistake or accumulating excess dead equity.

If not, then maybe just accumulate more small properties.

The reason I like the HELOC over the cash-out refinance is the HELOC pretty much acts like a credit card - you only pay (and accumulate interest) on your current balance.