I know I am facing an financial uphill battle in particular when starting out in this industry, however I am choosing to look at this as an opportunity to learn and find a solution that works for us.

While working a decent warehouse job 5 years ago as a single guy I was able to save up a down payment, and purchased my first house. A few years later, after getting married and having 2 kids, a back injury left me unable to do physical labor for a living anymore. The only jobs I really qualify for now pay less than childcare would cost. We now own a small business, that makes more than I did in the warehouse, but still not enough to really get ahead.

After 5 years the house now has (conservatively) around 100k equity after simple updates and appreciation.

My goal is to invest in multi family units in my area, but the biggest roadblock I see is trying to find financing as the numbers don't really support us being able to get a loan on that equity as income from a small business is looked at differently than that from a typical job.

I am very new to this but am determined to find solutions. Any insight/advice/warnings are welcome. Thanks

Thank you for sharing your back ground.  Moving forward, focus on the future not the past.  What skill set do you have for someone to invest in your idea to be the main person who is overseeing the financial investment of an apartment building.  In other words, how are you selling yourself.

If you want to go that route, look for 5+ units which will be commercial and thus dependent upon the asset value/income rather than your own personal situation. The tough part in that will be demonstrating you have what it takes to take that asset and improve the financials, which is where some kind of partnership might be beneficial for you (someone else who's done this before). 

Sorry for not following up immediately, but I have been contemplating the question "Why should someone invest with me?" And as I have been listening to the audiobook of bigger pockets "The book on investing in real estate with no or low money down" and the same questions were brought up in it as well. I believe that I need to highlight 2 different things in particular. First, I have demonstrated that I have made great choices with the purchase of my primary residence as it has increased in value nearly $100k in the 5 years I have owned it. This is attributed not only to a good choice in location, but also the work that we have had done to it. Second, within less that two years of owning a small business we have increased net profits from $15k a year to over $60k projected for this year due to marketing, rebranding, perfecting our product, and providing a great customer experience. My plan is to showcase these two points in particular in a physical packet(2-3 pages) that can be shown with any investor packets, upon request, etc. with the hope that between this and the strength of the deal I can find can convince someone to invest after they do their due diligence.

@Travis Nelson , have you contacted lenders to see if you qualify for the mortgage you will need for the properties you are interested in?