My strategy is pretty simple.....acquire as much debt as I can, and stretch out the amortizations as long as I can while rates are still this insanely low.

Many times when there are outstanding past debts, the attorney will certainly charge for a binding estoppel letter, but not normally for ball park outstanding balances.  

Some lenders look at cash flow to make sure the income can support the debt and will probably want you to have a experienced property manger managing.

Then I would carry the debt of 70k on my HELOC and still can draw 40k when needed.As for the 2400 , I going to apply it to my property rental account.

Our only debt is the one mortgage, but can't spare the cash at the moment to pay off on our own.Am I missing other funding options worth considering?  

His rents are way under market, the only people who are willing to rent from him are those that can afford that low rent, he knows the judge who does the evictions on a first name basis, he cannot afford to ever repair his properties, and he is seriously behind on property taxes to the point of losing some of them.Not only that, but despite being 70, he mortgaged his home recently to cover debts from the slumfolio, to the tune of several hundred thousand!

After 10, I am going to take a break from accumulation mode and pay down some debt that I accumulated outside of the first mortgages and build up reserves.And see where I want to go in 6 months.Getting the 11th.

If you have a title company that is investor-focused (or supportive), and owned by an attorney (or at least has good relationships with a law office) then you should have a helpful guide to generate the debt instruments needed. 

I'm working as an Engineer with a decent salary, however I'm using my excess cash to pay down my existing debt incurred from my previous business.

Clear title means that there no other claims upon the title interests of record owners, such as mortgages, tax liens, judgments and defects in the recorded chain of ownership.It make look like a little thing to you but may mean your title includes lots of attached baggage, like undisclosed debts, liens, lawsuits and even brownfield issues (hazardous substances).I hated title research when I started many years ago but came to learn how to make money from the mistakes and oversights  by others.