How to structure loans??

[Account Closed]

Im currently looking at making a marginal safe investment on a townhouse rental. I assume we will hold it for 5-7 years and at the end of the day, the gained equity will be enough to pay for the closing costs, leaving me with all the rental cash flow and whatever appreciation the townhouse realized to that point. Somewhere between a 6% low end and 10% high end annual return is what I see.

My questions stems from whether an investment like this is really worth it. I believe the general assumption is that as long as your debt to equity is 45% or less, people will loan to you under normal loan agreements for up to 5 properties. If I am looking to co-invest with my dad on this, and we both get put on the loan, does this burn up 1 of my 5 normal loans? If we were to put the loan in our names, but the title in a joint companies name, does that change the equation?

Any help is appreciated. I know my scenario might not be very clear here, so please ask questions and I can answer to the best of my ability.