What's seller's motivation?

I agree with those who hinted that you'd be wasting your money if you put your own money into accelerating your mortgage payoff, when those same dollars should be going towards additional investing.I'll repeat Joe's point: don't help your tenants pay for the properties you already "own"!

I would love to help you with the bigger projects only (additions and larger).

In addition, I would recommend: Listening to the BP Real Estate podcast https://www.biggerpockets.com/podcastListening to the BP money podcast https://www.biggerpockets.com/moneyshowAttend your local REIA meetings to networkStart analyzing deals to get practiceEngage more on the BP forumsAll the best!

Welcome @Nathan Buchheit You seem motivated and have a good plan to get you started on your journey.

Sellers aren't going to let go of a property at a discounted price from market value unless they have a big motivating factor.

The question is whether or not the benefit of getting the third property without any additional cash out of pocket is worth increasing our debt. 

Looking for a motivated Real Estate Agent in Oakland, CA. 

In addition, attend REIA meetings and study.

Even if you engage a broker, you should still shop around an additional couple lenders yourself (if you have the time/energy).Freddie SBL loans cap at 50 units, so you won't be able to take advantage of that program (unless they can somehow make an exception), but there are still great Agency (Fannie/Freddie) programs that would work.