The only way real estate investing seems to make sense in my mind now is to use as little debt as possible and then hope in a couple years that rates are down and then you can refinance to get your equity back for additional properties.

This can give you the opportunity to possibly add more units within an existing property or even build additional units in the future. 

Credit scores are an important indicator of tenant worthiness, but I have also heard that $60k a year (in most markets) is the magic number/ minimum income number for most good tenants.

Getting into real live action (not meta) will connect you to your next real partners, and new stream of income strategies.

Our combined annual income is $150k, with somewhat limited potential for salary growth.

All said and done it cost me an additional $2300 in fees for the HML that went past its maturity date plus the appraisal, all this could have been avoided if they told me they had an issue with my credit score from the beginning. 

Some things that might be a concern:1) Obviously have to make sure things are all permitted first2) I don't want the room to "feel" like an addition, so flooring has to be same level/standardized with the rest of the house3) Unlike the rest of the house that has an identically-shaped 2200sqft basement underneath, this added space will not have a basement directly underneath it -- I'm not sure if this poses major cons for some reason that I'm not aware of4) Especially given the lack of basement underneath, I have to make sure that the HVAC can still somehow be piped into this room#2 and #3 are probably my biggest concerns (#1 and #4 I can find out relatively easily)Any tips/thoughts or other experience would be greatly appreciated. 

Acquiring an income earning property with high potential for appreciation for less than $20k out of pocket?  

Buyer's have to have at least 620 credit score and income below either 126K or 95K.

Personally I would rather have the $260k now and invest it and get 8-9% than $100k now and get 6.75% over the next 30 years which is taxed as ordinary income...