I even reached out to the proverbial "angel investor" and didn't have luck, as he is starting a business and needs his capital for his own venture.My property cashflows a few hundred dollars with very conservative and overcautious expense budgeting, even still cashflows assuming very unfavorable financing terms (100% LTV at 10% over 30 years).

My main concern at the moment, is my debt to income ratio as it is unfavorable due to my student loans.

If the market become unfavorable to sell after renovation, I would just rent out some rooms to help pay the mortgage, that's very little risk to get your feet wet.With flips as a business, the clock is ticking while you keep writing checks until the house is sold.  

These types of transactions have been looked at unfavorably by the IRS as a way of accessing your profit while still taking advantage of the 1031 and there have been some that have been disallowed upon examination.  

Commercial loans allow for this, and the underwriting is easier, but heavier terms are unfavorable for cash flow.  

It could be a good answer to get out of an unfavorable property with little or no tax hit to do so.

you should check to make sure that any information older than 3 years that is unfavorable is deleted from your credit report (except certain items like bankruptcies)Applying too frequently for credit can also hurt your score

I've received unfavorable feedback from unqualified tenants; from their perspective, my screening process is "over the top" (as one put it), because I was renting the basement "not a real apartment." 

Honestly- if you scroll through these boards, you'll find almost all of the people here asking for help are self managing and have put themselves in an unfavorable and expensive situation. 

What I think I hear you saying is that the best way to protect your capital investment against a potentially unfavorable interest rate move in the future is to buy at enough of discount to market now, and then add enough value to the property, so you can refinance it and pull essentially all of your capital out of the property.