It ultimately comes down to your willingness to take on risk and the trade-off between investment costs and the potential savings if a lawsuit arises and your insurance policy doesn’t cover the claim (e.g., discrimination, harassment, dog bites, toxic mold, etc.).When it comes to structuring your investments, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

To me at my current knowledge level, this deal only works if taking over the loan - to limit the out of pocket money to acquire the property since the outside reno and new septic would take up the bulk of rehab costs. 

You get the best of both worlds in that way: No seasoning to pull cash out AND the conventional rate/costs and no pre-payment penalty which are all better then DSCR loans.  

My advice is get a real estate agent who is also an investor, make sure to walk the properties yourself (if that means flying into town that couple of days and flight cost may save you tens of thousands, the number of out of state investors I have met who are up **** creek without a paddle are numerous)  and run your numbers forward backward side to side for every strategy. do you have a back up plan to your back up plan? 

Not sure what your monthly cost is, but every vacant month it costs a lot trying to make that up. 

The reality of the market is often misunderstood, and you’ve perfectly highlighted the impact of interest rates on home prices.It’s a compelling point—waiting for lower rates can actually lead to higher overall costs due to increased demand and rising home prices.

I would also suggest finding a 100% LTC (loan to cost) lender that will fund all of your rehab and all of your purchase.

This post just cost me on my count.  

The newest outdoor is still advertising 1st month free as they haven't filled up, and I spoke with the climate controlled owner/builder yesterday (he's a pretty big REI in the area), and he made it sound like he hadn't leased a single climate controlled unit since they opened a few weeks ago.I recently purchased a 140x45 warehouse with low ceilings and had debated doing self storage, but my market seems very saturated.

Also make sure that you're up to date on the rules for the city state and county as it pertains to rooming houses and factor in higher than average insurance costs as you do your DD.