There are no credit or income qualifying criteria for transactional funding.

we doubled the amount of bookings and income year oneLessons learned?

We have a good relationship with our bank as they gave us the two mortgages, but we don’t have the income to support a third loan.

We live in Los Angeles, both are self employed 1099 independent contractors, combined annual income roughly 250k pre-tax.

If so I’m thinking she could make some sizable donations which would lower her taxable income to below 47000$.

My goal is to leverage the benefits of real estate investing to build wealth and create passive income streams for the long term.While I'm eager to dive into the world of real estate, I recognize the value of learning from experienced investors and mentors who have walked this path before me.

@Brian Szykowny, Your workload relative to income should decrease along with some other scaling. 

Depending on your goals for the property and how much underwriting you want to be subjected to - your options are broadly as follows. 1) If the property is habitable and just needs some updates and minor repairs and you would like to keep it as a rental - conforming loans will be the cheapest rate and fees, require full underwriting on you, and your income will be considered to buy the property - think DTI ratio. 2) If the property is not habitable that leaves you with something like a hard money loan or private loan - which are normally short term debt.

Often when I make an offer on a property I put the offer in my name and add or an entity I have an ownership in.I would suggest that you open a separate bank account for the LLC that all income and all expenses go through. 

I know some investors with high W2 incomes such as Physicians can benefit from the STR loophole.