*I do not wish to trick my employer or any financial institution, I simply want to take advantage of the 5% multifamily down-payment and flexibility of my corporate job.

My questions is this: Is it smarter to purchase a property outright vs. putting down payments on more than one property. 

I made the payments for over a year and just recently put rental back into my entity. 

However, it is likely that I will want to use my commissions to fund repairs, use as a down payment, or even cover expenses on these investment properties.

For a cash out most DSCR programs are going to require that the property has not been on the market for the last 6 months, but there are a couple who will allow after the property has been pulled from the market but will likely have a pre-payment penalty. 

(i) The term "Insured" also includes(A) successors to the Title of the Insured by operation of law as distinguished from purchase, including heirs,devisees, survivors, personal representatives, or next of kin;(B) successors to an Insured by dissolution, merger, consolidation, distribution, or reorganization;(C) successors to an Insured by its conversion to another kind of Entity;(D) a grantee of an Insured under a deed delivered without payment of actual valuable considerationconveying the Title(1) if the stock, shares, memberships, or other equity interests of the grantee are wholly-owned by thenamed Insured,(2) if the grantee wholly owns the named Insured,(3) if the grantee is wholly-owned by an affiliated Entity of the named Insured, provided the affiliatedEntity and the named Insured are both wholly-owned by the same person or Entity, or(4) if the grantee is a trustee or beneficiary of a trust created by a written instrument established by theInsured named in Schedule A for estate planning purposes.

~we are going to buy a duplex together and use my equity in a heloc for down payment as well as save another 20k per couple over next year ~wife and I (plus 1 kid)  will move to one side, His family to the other (2kids)~going to turn my house to a rental, with the eventual goal to turn my half of the duplex to rental as well (goal is 50 doors by 50 years old I’m 31)~Market is a bit light, i am considering and open to building duplex.

Can I claim any of the purchase / down payment on my taxes?

Be super careful if you aren’t able to make these mortgage payments out of pocket if no rent comes in or a large capex expense “suddenly” comes up. 

The problem I am facing is I don’t have income and no collateral so I can’t finance my down payment  with lenders/banks.