Starting out, staying in your own backyard has many advantages.

These sellers hand you the keys and stay out of the way until its time to sign a contract. 

Constantly manage bookkeeping and cash flow to make sure you stay on budget and/or make adjustments when (not if) things come up to stay on track.  

I'd love to stay in touch,Good luck!

Ideally, you'd want closer to $40k-$50k to feel truly comfortable and have a safety net for your first investment property.

Its a tough subject because logically, they are joint and several guarantys so rationally a 100% guaranty from each of two people (one 740 one 680 for example) is ALWAYS going to be better than just one 100% guaranty from someone at 740 (so it wouldn't make sense to have a better rate for the latter)The problem is that there is fraud and "straw borrowers" out there where someone who is not involved in the property signs on to boost score and terms - so many DSCR Lenders in response either do the "non-rational" thing and price to the lower to avoid the fraud or use the higher of the two (and either be a little loose with things or just stay vigilant on any funny business)

I suggested to them we could split the costs 50/50 of installing the electric, the garbage disposal, and the labor for installing it as I would be more comfortable having my guy do it.

We also follow-up with the recruiter or HR lead after each stay to tell them what a great experience we had with their employee and to ask them to think of us in the future when they need to place someone in a midterm/corporate lease.

I did some digging and am comfortable with the water issue, but I find it amazing what banks/HUD will do.My last HUD house they flooded it two days before my closing.

I would be comfortable to some degree as this would just be a saving plan of sorts.