I paid her $15K via credit card to her paypal account and another $15K by wire money from my bank.

STRs sound like too much work to me.Portfolio income = stock dividends, interest income (from banks, credit union etc), Master Limited Partnerships (Form K-1), Business Development Companies (Form 1099), bonds, interest earned from investing in a real estate debt fund, interest earned from being a private lender

The lowest barrier to entry I've seen for house hacking would be to find areas with grant loans, there are several here in central OH, they are general "majority minority" areas, but many local banks are incentivized to do loans in these areas, so you can often get into a 2-4 unit with no money down, and 15K towards closing costs and rate by down. 

To your point in number 3 - yes I have done utilities included for the sole purpose of being able to show as much money coming in for refinancing and for the banks.

If i satisfied the mortgage, there would be another 40k lien i would have to satisfy so its not worth to buy it directly from the bank.  

Either bank statements showing deposits or Friend of Court printout. 3) Since actual payments may vary, they need to averaged over the 3-6 months verified.Legally, you cannot ask an applicant specifically about child support income, they can only volunteer it.

I typically have a cashier's check from the bank with the tenant(s) name on it.

Be careful with that BRRR stuff.I personally would not do Remote BRRR as there is just a lot of risk with 1) risk of embezzlement with contractors 2) change orders and 3) bank doing bait and switch doing a lower appraisal and/or LTV on the refinance.Most service providers net worth is under 500-1M net worth and I just did not feel comfortable working with them because they would screw me over when I wire over 30-50k checks to do work.

You’ll use the banks money to completely fix it up, also increasing the equity of the property which comes in very handy when you’re ready to refinance to get rid of mortgage insurance, potentially pull a heloc, or just be more bankable in general.

My thinking is that if you had a legal agreement to make monthly payments to your parents, then you wouldn't need to get a bank loan.