It may be a tough rate for you to swallow, but it may be worth it to secure the properties then refinance in a few years.

This would make it into two, two bedroom units with the intent of making them long term rentals.I'm guilty of having a lot of projects going at once so my focus right now is bringing the cottage to a point to refinance out of the private money and either make it our primary residence for a year for the financing perks or to go straight into a short term rental.With the four bedroom house I'm trying to decide if it's worth splitting into two units or if I should keep it a four bedroom rental.The cottage I'm also tempted to do mid term with to lower the turnover and maintenance but open to suggestions.The third property I'll probably just let the current renters pay the mortgage for the time being if I'm able to acquire it anytime soon.

Conventional loans that use your debt to income / DTI to structure the loan require 12 months seasoning to use the new appraised value for a cash out refinance.

Plus to realize that appreciation it costs you money to sell, refinance, and potentially pay taxes on the gain. 

You should refinance your long term debt into a DSCR loan and then do a heloc on your property.

My strategy for getting started is to use a HELOC for my down payment and all other upfront cost and reserves, then refinance as soon as possible to get the fixed, lower, interest rate.

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on, and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

Our current portfolio looks like this:LTR that is worth 150k with 65k of debt left on it at 3.65% on a 20 year loan - PITI = $785 per month - long term tenants paying $1650 per monthLTR that is valued at 110k with 45k of debt left on a 4%, 20 year loan - PITI = $583 per month - long term tenants paying $1550 per monthSTR that is valued at $275k with 155k of debt left on a 3.5%, 30 year loan - PITI = 1080 per month - brings in over 35k per year gross for the last three years.Would you do a cash out refinance on one of the properties to pull out some of the equity to pay off the $48k HELOC or would you sell one of the LTR properties to pay off the HELOC?

Otherwise, you will need to do a no ratio DSCR loan, which will allow you to purchase or refinance at 75% LTV however the rate will be pretty high. 

Goal is to refinance (hopefully rates are down in a year), and rinse and repeat.