What I am looking for is to able to help the investor to achieve their dream (because that is my dream to, I just don't have cash to do it yet) and learn from them.

As long as those two criteria can be met and you can generate rental income in such a way as to make a substantial match with the safe harbor in 2008-16 there is no reason why you can't enjoy the favorable financing of 2nd home along with a 1031 - that is if the dti can be achieved.

My long-term goal is to achieve financial independence through semi-passive real estate income combined with my wife's salary.   

In this case it is referred to as good debt because it allowed you to achieve a beneficial outcome of which you would otherwise not been able to achieve.

You keep repeating this "success cycle" until you achieve your target goal.

We are estimating that we can achieve this in a 12 month period. hard budget & contract are in place. 

Have you looked into strategies for achieving this?

This whole blogging is new for us as the majority of our business is achieved through word of mouth - I didn't want to get on here and broadcast anyones personal business as I did not think it was necessary. 

Build a network of people that can help you achieve your real estate goals.  

The book I am reading says I need 2500 people in my "haven't met" list to market to 12 times a year in order to achieve 50+ listings.My idea is to get a list from Alesco Data and have it filtered for the surrounding cities where I live.