If househacking is possible I would rather buy my primary house using a low down payment for first-home buyers than invest in other properties in Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno, etc.

When you are going to be living in one of the units you can use a low money down loan with a down payment of 3.5-5% down and live in the building for one year and then if you’ve saved enough for another down payment you can then put another 3.5-5% down on the next building and live there for a year and keep doing this year after year and build up a nice portfolio this way.

Connecting with a lender that can run numbers for projected mortgage payment vs  market rents in relation to the area you're looking into would be a good first step! 

Between them, there are two irrevocable trusts. each has an investment property (plus the property where they currently live).

The cancellation form provides that necessary line by line break down, absolves us of that liability & helps insure that our Ohio Division of Real Estate audited trust accounting is 100% accurate. 

My rent is 3k a month and my payment is 4k a month.

You need to have a lot of trust in that company because you have a lot of eggs in one basket.Model 2 you are not beholden to any one person, but you have a whole bunch of subs you are coordinating with and are hoping they all play nice in the sandbox.   

@Michelle P Stafford, Any type of calculation of rent that includes a consideration of what principle they would have paid if they bought it, or corresponds to a payment amount of a loan could be considered an equitable interest in the real estate. 

Purchase Price: $380kTaxes/Insurance: $9,300 yearly (estimated)Downpayment: Up to $100kMy vision for the next 1-2 years is to live in the house and use the MIL suite income to pay most of the mortgage while saving enough for another down payment on another home that would become our primary residence.

Currently I have a traditional IRA in my Fidelity account sitting in cash that I would like to use to invest in a cre syndication or maybe a note or debt fund... but first I would need transfer funds into a self directed IRA with a company like Equity Trust.