I witnessed my late father (ex-Navy) & mother transition from military to full time investing very successfully.

Hi, I am renting out a 2 bedroom apartment for $1,200 I had two people looking at it, one person was an older mother not working with her daughter working that makes three times the rent net, but she does not have now the full amount to move in including the security deposit and her credit score is in 500 due to medics bills and a few other stuff, versus the second person makes a little under two times the rent but she has a great credit score at 6 70 and she has the full amount to move in right now, what would you do?

Otherwise, if this is an extremely "crunched" area in your local market you may try looking through some more creative lenses, like "homes with 2 kitchens" or homes with a casita/Mother-in-law/ADU. 

There is a mother in law suite we built which she resides in and we live in the primary home now.

There is a mother in law suite we built which she resides in and we live in the primary home now.

My mother’s house is free and clear, we also be be gifted another free and clear property.

It definitely got the creative juices flowing, however, and I believe that I can help my mother out tremendously and create a HELOC for myself in the process.

Often these things have big emotional impact, a few hundred dollar value theme park day pass/thing for a small family and they will think you Mother Theressa and tell everyone what there landlord did for them, a few hundred bucks and they will say "hey, thanks". 

I had lengthy talks with him and my mother about the different strategies I could use and the connections I've made in this industry to leverage my purchase of the house.

Bull crap cause I watched as a young mother (younger than myself) was mobing in last week.