One of the mortgages is a non-conforming mortgage that has a higher rate (a 7 year ARM).

@Lisa Sluss Have you considered a bank that doesn't conform strictly to fnma or fmcc?

You will be limited to 10 conforming mortgages, so use all 10, then look at commercial loans (or if your spouse can qualify put 10 in her name).One issue with paying down mortgages, after you get past 4 mortgages, you can't pull cash out of a rental property (with a conforming mortgage).Develop a plan and follow it, you will be glad you did!

Bringing more tools to the table increases the ways you can make money from an opportunity (particularly if it doesn't conform to a particular premeditated strategy).I recommend licensing to anyone starting out--as it gives you a baseline education and a degree of immersion into the industry for relatively little cost (less than a weekend with a guru).Good luck!

Any property with a loan on it is considered to be a 'mortgaged property' and will count toward you 1-4 or 5-10, even if its not a conforming mortgage.

Individuals looking for returns on their personal assets (with or without real estate background) and institutional hard money that a broker loans for an investor or a pool.The latter usually have predetermined products which the loan must conform to (i.e. 65% LTV of the lesser of purchase or appraised value) and are brokered through mortgage lenders to conform to securities regulations.You should be looking for a smaller private lender for your situation.  

Interestingly enough, a conforming loan - specifically a loan which is eligible for Fannie/Freddie carries a requirement of 20%.  

If you're legally allowed to own the property I imagine you're allowed to do anything you want with it so long as it conforms to local laws and code. 

Many people like these higher-end communities because they feel exclusive and because they like that conformity of the properties (and they often like the conformity of the people as well, unfortunately).

Know what you should be working on long term to get your score up, if your going conventional financing and you have over 4 mortgaged properties you will have to have a 720 mid score.Whatever you do don't go and 'forget' a property going conforming,,they will find it,,ask me how I know (LOL).andy