Yes, the credit utilization ratio does impact your scores (see below) but, if you're out of debt & not using your credit cards, you may not see a hit to your scores.Amounts Owed (30%): Represents your credit utilization or how much debt you owe compared to your credit limits.

Fundamentals change neighborhood to neighborhood (i.e. appreciation potential), inventory/absorption issues may exist, rogue city council members and/or registered community organizations can make neighborhoods less appealing with little oversight which impacts value and marketability.

Presidential election results never had much impact on the housing market.

No matter where you choose to invest, please keep in mind the following (copy & paste):--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

Nothing feels forced.

The key is knowing how to force a seller to comply with the agreement.

The shorter the prepayment term has an impact on increasing the rate.4.

In the end I was forced into the HELOC.

You do not "learn more" with a duplex or quad that will help you get into 20+ units, then you can learn from a SFR, other than you will be forced to deal with more tenants, faster, which, I guess, is learning a lot about what owning property is like.

My concern for you is that you seem to be trying to force something to happen and that can lead to a decision you regret down the road.