2 years landlord experience - what counts?

[Chris Parker]

I have never bought a house before. I understand that you must have 2 years of landlord experience to count rental income towards qualifying for a mortgage. 

To qualify for a conforming mortgage on the types of houses I want (residential MFH) I will need to include rental income. The last 2 years I've been living in an apartment and collecting my roommate's rent and paying it to the apartment complex on their behalf. Does this satisfy the requirement to allow me to include future rental income towards qualifying?

If it does not, what is my best play here? Buy a cheap house out of state (say, in my home town) and wait 2 years?

I have a high W2 income, great-nearly-excellent credit, and live in the Bay Area. Pending looking at all the numbers, I think I would like to pay 5% down. I pay $300/mo on low interest student loans ($63k outstanding) which are paid in advance 2 years. (If I've done my math right, I qualify for more house if I simply prepay more on the mortgage than pay off the loans early. Paying off individual accounts within the loan doesn't seem to decrease the monthly payment.) I have no other debt except some credit cards I pay off every month.