The bank will want you to be working for a certain amount of time and that have certain credit score plus have your financial ratios match what they want. 

I am wondering if I used some of the money I received from the sell to pay off my debt if that would be financially wise vs using it towards the purchase of my next place?

@Ben BergHere is the process of renting a property with a roommate, focusing on cash flow, financial arrangements, and renovations.

I have hired another company to handle all other aspects of my financial needs.

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

It's going to take a little while to get there financially. 

Engage with property managers for insights on rents, expenses, or off-market opportunities, and request financial documents like rent rolls and profit/loss statements from sellers’ agents as part of due diligence.

I may have another year to be influential and I'm trying to set a financial successful path that will create wealth, residual income, suport philanthropy ideas, community help and know when she goes off and have a family of her own, she will be ok.

Holding is doable but it depends on your financial position, with a refi you'll have costs to do that and your numbers would be different.

I then look at area vacancies, economic conditions, employment opportunities, area demographics and verify that the property has not been red tagged or have any other underlying problems that might make it difficult to resell or rent.When I have my financial information then I can consider debt service and costs related to equity partners in the overall income produced.