But I'm also producing good cash flow, which I plan to first save and build a good 6-8 month emergency mortgage fund for both my rental property and my primary residence.

They want to send me to the commercial loan department where the rates are awful, closing costs are high, and the requirements much more robust.What if I just get a second-home construction to permanent loan, wait 12-16 months for it to be built, spend another 90-120 days furnishing it, and then refinance into a traditional 30 year fixed as an investment property?

Numbers show that if I bought 3 houses and after NOI and Debt service I have around $430 per house so around $1290 a month. 

I don't know the numbers on your property, so I'll create a hypothetical:Assume your principal and interest on a $300k loan is $1,263.You're sitting on the potential to get $155k (tax free, btw), but the rate will be 7.5%, taking you're principal and interest to $2,100.Yes, it's $900/month more, but you have $155k of tax free money in the bank.

This seems oversaturated and un-strategic, but I know my neighborhood well and believe I could differentiate here as well.Engagement sequence would be a mailer with a handwritten address, cold call, text follow up, cold call, email, then qualify / disqualify leads.Using my rental income, I have a ~$1k / month budget for marketing and tools.

I am going to be pursuing my first property in the next few months in Iowa.

We charge pet rent of $45/pet/month.

For me it is not a big deal but for some it would be devastating not to collect payments for 12 + months if you had not planned for it.  

.- thats  good to hear .....fyi - when checking the  caps on an ARM loan - there are  3  different caps to understand and  be aware of  :  1) the  intial  cap  is the amount the rate  can change on the  intial  adjustement - this is often 5 or 6% ...so if your rate was  intially 4% - this means the  rate  could  intially  change to 10% +  2) the  lifetime cap  is the  max  amount the  rate can  change over the loans life - this is  often the same as the  intial cap at  5 or 6%  3) the  3rd cap is the one you mention  which is the  period  cap ..this is the  most the  rate can  change  once the loan  begins to  adjsut    annually or  every  6 months ..this is  often  2% 

We've hit it on one deal, and are hoping to hit it for this month's deal as well.