Leverage and velocity of equity for more cash flow and less debt in my hands is the process and cycle of gaining net worth and deducting cap ex and debts while collecting rents and depreciating assets rapidly for less tax liability.  

Currently located in a beautiful retirement/resort/vacation development called Canadian Lakes in mid-michigan (50 miles north of Grand Rapids).

I was trying to buy fron 2013-2015 here and even then it wasn't easy, not much inventory and rapidly climbing prices. 

Jon Horton private placements that are value add and in 50k increments. 250k mfh class b and c apartments150k self storage or mobile home100k life settlements/assisted living

@Nicholas Herold as Harrison said, the markets you're interested in are very attractive to invest in as well as becoming very competitive as interest/demand is growing rapidly here.

I understand this is a location dependent question and the payoff for another bedroom in this case may be incremental, but how much space does one actually need/desire? 

In addition to the higher cash flow and 'house hacking' advantages others have cited, multifamily properties often have strong maintenance cost benefits which improve with a greater number of units.My wife and I have a few 6 flat buildings; one roof, one yard, one furnace, one boiler, but 6 separate units paying rent.Also you'll often find multifamily buildings have some incremental income opportunities, for example detached garages or parking areas where you can add on parking fees, shared laundry areas that can be run coin op, etc.Good luck, and congratulations (in advance) on your first property!

They give incremental discount based on the # of appliances you buy.

I found that cash out refi's have a much better rate.HELOC typically have variable interest rates that usually climb with the prime rate so you can potentially get into a bind with a large balance if interest rates begin to rise rapidly (seems unlikely in the immediate future).

Long story short, my market got really hot both as an investment location and also is growing rapidly.