You can always give the other unit a go at STR and if it doesnt pencil out as high as the MTR rent given that STR takes more effort as well, you can easily switch to MTR. 

Private lenders can get 12% pretty easily in this market.Hope this helps get your wheels turning!

Yes you should easily shed a good portion of it but to shed all of it will be a lot harder and needs diet and exercise (not just one)This is evident also by the latest treasury bond sales - other countries are slowing down buying our debt which means rates (especially mortgage rates (will stay higher longer).

A person can easily become discouraged by the pace of wealth building and take risks. 

This sounds like a good plan - sticking to the duplex or SFH for students is good too since most DSCR Lenders generally stay away from "student housing" but if you are looking to purchase a rental property that can easily be utilized to rent to any tenant (adult, family etc) including students, you should be OK

The personal page will also allow for the agent to post their listings for the leads to easily look through.

We weren't thrilled as the unit won't pass easily the section 8 inspections in the current condition, and it's also extra work for us. 

They can easily book plenty airbnb for around $4000 per month. 

However, if you have a good and responsive lender - if this happens to you, you can typically get it removed from the credit report pretty quickly/easily if the error occurs.

I would not replace the dishwasher because of that as it can easily be cleaned, or even replaced if you wanted to go that far.