Now, pair this strategy with the concept of house hacking, where you live in the property and rent out rooms to cover your mortgage expenses.

these houses are  located in Rockford IL, if yes: any lender here that can help with with that?

However, they won't wait for me to sell my current home to use as a down payment on the second home.If I use the cash I've saved as the down payment on my new primary residence, can I take the proceeds from selling my current home and apply them to new construction or a mortgage on an investment property?

Realized it would probably be cheaper on a monthly basis to have a mortgage there rather than pay rent for another year.

So, some ideas would be:* take some additional courses/webinars, etc on how to obtain appraisal business, especially private appraisal work (from attorneys, cpa's, direct from homeowners, hard-money lenders, etc).

We work with many real estate investors that house RE within their plan.Acting as a private lender has it's limitation inside of the plan though. 

Hey Andrew,You can utilize the Find a Lender tool here on BP.

I'm in the position to apply(depending on lender DTI requirement) for conventional financing through the builder at <6% interest rate in this current market.

If you want to collect a commission you need to be licensed with FINRA.Capital Raising: Understanding Commissions, Referral Fees, and Finders Fees | American Association of Private Lenders (aaplonline.com)

Jose,If you can rent it out and it cash flows and not just cover the mortgage then I would advise renting and buying a new home.