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

With this in mind, if you intend to leverage short-term debt (hard money), it's even more vital that your underwriting is thorough and that you have the correct systems in place to tackle potential issues.

However, you can get loans that are based on the performance of the rental and not your personal income and debt.

Yes, its mainly ordinary income from interest payments.

My main question is will I be happy in 10 years that I bought this property?

I am expecting to do 3-4 deals per year until I get to 20 properties or so and then snowball the debt so they are all paid off by retirement. 

The name (former tenant) looked familiar and sure enough when we looked at the credit report there was the debt from us from 2023. 1.

Well, a lot of life happened and now I am getting back to zero no debt and I'll be renting for now and I am considering a duplex to buy cash or maybe land and some sort of unconventional home but still purchasing cash.

Also, you will likely only be able to use the rent to offset the mortgage pmt debt on the rental property to $0 since you dont have any Sched E history yet. 

The main issue is your exit is capped so if your costs go up, your profit goes down.