Im trying to buy and increase my portofolio and every time that im negotiating with a seller they are "scared" of doing it because they are used to traditional financing.

Areas that have traditionally been undesirable are transitioning.

So I'm assuming that landlords will need to find additional sources for information on applicants.What additional sources do you use for screening tenants besides the traditional credit score, eviction, and landlord references?

What percentage do management companies traditionally charge for management?  

From that, financing our first deal with traditional loan would not work ( and it did not as I have tried mortgage brokers and a number of them are very specific on W2 requirements).

Third, my primary debt (aside from mortgages) is student loans, which is driving up my DTI to the point where it might preclude obtaining a traditional mortgage.  

I'm not sure if LLCs can get a traditional 30 year fixed mortgage.

If you had used a more "traditional" 25% down mortgage to buy in the Midwest town, would that have worked?

If he bought a single family home and you cosigned, then you would still be elgibile for a traditional 3.5% down payment. 

If you have a method of paying that HELOC back then that is the less expensive method than a traditional mortgage.