Creative financing options like seller financing or assuming a low-interest FHA loan can also help you secure better terms.

If you are not from this area, you should know it is even harder to rent a place when it is the holidays and it is cold and snowy outside, and the bad weather we had the first week of January hasn't helped you.I'd have a discussion about what it would take to rent your place.  

If the property is leased, that might help.

Also, any advice on how to screen tenants would be helpful.

Thank you Daniel for that very helpful information.

For most lenders, they wanna see a 12 year lease in order to count the income to help your debt income ratio. there are not many lenders that I know of that will include short term or midterm income as part of the income side of your DTI. 

House hacking a 2-4 unit property with FHA (3.5% down) or Conventional (5% down) can be a smart way to start, while DSCR loans or partnerships can help if you need alternative financing.

Things that would be helpful to know: how much are your holding costs? 

Quote from @Jackie Lin: @Alan Asriants thank you so much for all the information and tips, so helpful!

Who knows if it will help but definitely wont hurt anything.