Taxes 10k HOA is 9k The current owner never did short-term rentals.

I'd also add to that that you are paying a 20% withholding tax on gross rental income. 

Tax structuring and LLC advice you can get for a paid fee too.

I use my license for multiple activities: Of course- comps, when buying and when selling, tax data- to see what I am about to pay when i own the home ( for long term holdings), check the DOM (days on the market) for the subdivision I am either buying on, or when I plan on selling, etc. 

Her mother is willing to (co-sign) and has excellent credit and debt to income ratio that will more than allow but I’m not sure the best way to structure this for the house to still be in our name?  

Another wildcard is that the tax office opened in The UAE a year ago.

If you were able to increase the value of the property significantly after the rehab, then you could bring the deal to a community bank  to refinance and take the hard money lender out.You keep all the equity and don’t have to file a partnership return for your annual tax return, which can be costly.  

More than likely a blend of my money and other sources.So, I'm assuming "other sources" is equity, not debt.

Now I can see some builders having an issue with comps.. but other than that its crazy to take these funds as income and then pay tax and plow it right back in.. 

The 2-3% points in extra cost are worth it if you plan on using as I described above because the use would be for a few  months at most and due to that short term use you can survive a rate adjustment up.But, if you have no plan to payoff the debt like when using for a down payment on a long term hold why pay the extra cost for flexibility and have the additional risk of the adjustable rate with the amortization looming when you can get a fixed rate second mortgage.