My ideal situation would be to place it on a loan as soon as I can to recoup my cash back and gain buying power again.

This is value add opportunity- rents had previously been under market value (450/month) and since acquiring the property and renovating it, the management team recently raised the rents to match market value in the area (525/month) The property is projected to generate over 25k of monthly income, a cash flow of almost 11k a month, and the annual cash on cash ROIis projected to be nearly 32% This would be my first large multi-unit apartment deal and I’m looking to either obtain a commercial loan for the property or (ideally) find private/hard money lender that would might also (eventually) serve as a partner/mentor/associate/eventual first to a smart, hardworking, and ambitious young real estate investor.

Therefore, you can deduct items that are directly related(repairs) to the rental units plus items paid indirectly for the rental units(think real estate taxes, interest, insurance).in addition - it looks like you are looking to use parts of the personal residence as a home office.Just note that, it would be hard to prove that you use 100% of the personal residence as a home office. 

Who's your ideal customer?

Who's your ideal customer?

He will be selling the properties to me for about 35k each and they will rent for anywhere from $600 to $800 a month on a 12-15 year note with the bank.With his knowledge and history in this market I feel that my mentor is steering me on the right direction and not setting me up for failure.

Pay them down  - ideally you only want to use 10-30% of the credit limit.Just a few thoughts - Good Luck!

Whether that be helping with rehab, direct mail, searching for properties, etc.

Did you know that you can use that and/or a Self Directed IRA to invest DIRECTLY in real estate?

A Heloc payment is usually 1.5% of outstanding balance due monthly I'm not sure how much exchanging one revolving debt for another with similar debt service is really going to help DTI. is this what a lender directly told you or is this what you are assuming?