I moved out of my house a few months ago and now rent a room from a friend so that I could lower my expenses and make that house a short term rental.  

However, it also depends what exactly those expenses are, e.g. unnecessary payroll would be something you should be able to correct (and if you lower it, you increase the value of the Facility); high flood insurance or excessive property taxes are what they are and typically cannot be reduced, very well throwing off the "industry standard".Typically we recommend buying a Facility as it is currently performing (past 12 months) and use a pro forma only for where you can realistically take it. 

The lower the price point I would not. 

If you come up with a 20% down payment a smaller bank will likely lend to you with a lower score.

You may have some luck in lower B class.

What happens when the Bank ordered appraisal comes back lower than what the seller wants to sell it for?

That is lowering market value.

Also, I’ve always used one major bank for all my real estate transactions because they’ve consistently had better rates than others but this was for primary/secondary homes – are there Banks out there that are known for lower rates for investment properties?

Not sure if you have considered it but we are experiencing a major growth all over Texas but more specifically within the Texas Triangle: Dallas-Ft Worth on the north side, San Antonio on the lower west side with Austin-San Marcos-Round Rock in the middle and Houston on the east side. 

Hello,I do real estate flips currently under my own name (I know lots of liability risk), but the up side is I pay capital gains tax at a lower rate then a pass through LLC.Can I create an LLC that has no income, so that I can contribute to a 401(k)?