Newbie from Sartell Minnesota Ready to Learn

[Amaris Facione]

Hello BP my name is Amaris.

I am interested in investing in rental properties. I currently own 0 properties and am focusing on educating myself and networking at this time. My partner (Jake) and I have been saving and plan on putting a 15-20% down payment on a duplex come spring of 2018 once he graduates from school (advertise, design and communications). We have a daughter together, are both 24 and seek financial freedom through rental investments.

We face a few challenges and I seek feed back:

I am a bartender and don't make so much money on paper. Can I remedy this by depositing all my tips and using bank statements as proof of income?

Two months ago my partner quit his job working 5pm-7am and full time school 8am-2pm. He is currently seeking a new part time job. If he finds a part time job now and has it only for 1 year how is this going to effect our eligibility?

The way we have been able to save up a nice chunk of money so far is by living with his parents who we hand over $500 a month to. His mom has this money in a savings account set aside for us to use as our down payment when we move out into a house (duplex). ( No I am not worried about it. I know she will give it to us when we find a place) How will this large sum of money magically being deposited into our account before we apply for a loan go over? Are we going to need to prove some how this money is ours and not a gift or a loan from a family member?

A little extra info: I currently have a car loan at $13,000 and we use a few credit cards that we pay off each month in full. That is all the debt we have. 

I appreciate any feedback/ advice anyone has for us to get started in the right direction and make our rental investment dreams come true.