Cleveland's rates can be great in certain zip codes and unfavorable in certain zip codes.

The other person who has unfavorable history I definitely understand collecting twice.

The appraiser will complete a market rent analysis on the property and as long as the rent is higher than the mortgage payment you are good to go (You could still do the loan if the mortgage payment is higher but the terms will be pretty unfavorable). 

Is there a musty smell or something unfavorable as you go through? 

I’m not an expert but 40% sounds extremely high and with an unfavorable rate .... mmmh !

But this is also one reason why our DTI is unfavorable to us.Another reason for DTI is that I took a W2 job last year after 5 years of 1099 income and now am back to 1099 but I'm told my income "track record" is now reset and I need to show 2 years of 1099 income starting this year...so suddenly the lenders would only consider my husband's income. 

I think most things were covered here (unfavorable landlord laws in CA and high property taxes in TX). 

I'd rule out the STR in Van due to 1) price/cashflow 2) unfavorable policies 3) Like you said, its big capital locked up for a small property with limited usage 4) STR is either a TON of upkeep(cleaning, marketing, etc) or a TON of expense related to prop mgmt in an already tight cashflow scenario.  

Most of these started as leveraged but I paid them off strategically and on purpose because of the unfavorable commercial terms, higher seller-financed risk or old higher rate commercial mortgages above 6.5%. 

With the current market being so unfavorable for sellers I’m at a standstill whether I should just cut my losses or whether I should buckle up, hold and ideally refinance in 2-3 years where then it may cashflow a little more or I can leverage the equity.