Or are they acting strictly as a lender?

Know the regulations of the area (for example are STRs allowed etc).

Ask the lender how strict they are if you were to quit claim.

They also have the right to screen potential tenants and establish their own rules and regulations, such as pet policies and late fees.

Most private money or hard money lenders will not want to use a personal residence as collateral because of Dodd Frank regulations regarding how to handle loans for personal residences.

In NJ there are laws and regulations governing how a landlord must deal with property left behind by tenants.

Another option is bringing in outside investors, but this involves a lot more regulation and is typically for much larger properties.A HELOC could be a way to secure some needed cash, but you need to make sure the property you buy can produce enough income to make all payments, including the HELOC.

For example, Biggerpocket is extremely useful for the technicality aspect of real estate investing (eg, extremely useful information on how to manage/work with tenants; to understand tax rules and regulations and understand what needs to be done during certain situations) ; but it's less useful when we're asking for opinion for investment (which city to invest,etc).

Step one - in preparation I ordered a separate planner strictly for this goal.

If I continue to run numbers and find this to be true across all potential house hack situations, what are your thoughts on me focusing on building a larger sum of capital to invest in a single-family, strictly rental unit?