Rent rates have increased so quickly over the last few years.

Real estate has always been in the back of my mind as a way to increase our wealth and provide for our family.

Gave the other tenants a smaller 250 increase and fixed up attic space to rent as storage.

For me the area I was concerned with was estimating costs.

Buying more properties, if buying correctly, simply does NOT increase your DTI or at least in my example above much at all. 

As far as bank is concerned, I am still the borrower, because we did this transfer behind the bank's back. 

If these houses have stable long-term tenants, I share your concern.

My plan for this year is improve my credit, get my real estate license (to increase my income on top of my W-2), possibly career transition into the property management space (to learn more), and save as much as possible and learn as much as I can.I’d love to house hack close to home but my area is so expensive it seems like it’d be close to impossible. 

You've done a great job with keeping your debt low so I have no concerns about your level of discipline to use/reuse a line of credit.All the best!

Quote from @Drago Stanimirovic: Benjamin,You're on the right track by focusing on macro trends like job growth and population increases, these can justify investments even if the 1% rule isn't met.