I’ve never thought commission should be a fixed rate, and I’ve never worked for brokerages that weren’t flexible, except my first one where I learned I never wanted to do that again.

This is a high risk investment for anyone to consider and your best bet is to find a long-term job and qualify on your own.1) Two people applying for a mortgage will go against both applicant's DTI in full.2) What if there is no cash-flow and no equity/ appreciation.What can force you to sell the property keeping her in a bad investment3) What is the market turns and you are not able to refinance the property?

I'm willing to bet if rates went down significantly than getting this property under contract would have had even more competition.

Hi Beth, Your best bet is finding a DSCR based lender that has looser guidelines on STRs.

Over time, a good bet would be to save up enough to find a two-family to house hack with lower money down and move there and rent out this one you own outright which would cash flow nicely. 2-1 single-families can be great for mid-term rentals as well which can 1.4-2.5 your cash flow.

Hi Tanjaree, here is what I found for the Waco metro area:Here are my rankings for zip codes in the metro area from best to worst-1.76706 (Waco) 2.76638 (Crawford) 3.76710 (Waco) 4.76630 (Bruceville) 5.76704 (Waco) 6.76640 (Elm Mott) 7.76708 (Waco) 8.76633 (China Spring) 9.76712 (Woodway) 10.76657 (McGregor) 11.76701 (Waco) 12.76691 (West) 13.76705 (Waco) 14.76655 (Lorena) 15.76643 (Hewitt) 16.76707 (Waco) 17.76711 (Waco) 18.76557 (Moody) 19.76682 (Riesel) 20.76524 (Eddy) 21.76624 (Axtell) 22.76664 (Mart) 23.76654 (Leroy)The Waco Metro also rates slightly above average compared to the rest of the state, making it a fairly safe bet as far as Texas goes. 

And Fixed 2nd Mortgages are fine, but lack the flexibility of a Hybrid HELOC and you have to take 100% of the cash now and pay the interest on it. 

And lastly College towns are an easy bet since there are three large colleges in the Three biggest cites in CO!

I strongly recommend it especially if you're young and flexible with your living situation.

When buying your first rental property, or any, you probably should not bet on rents going up 4% per year.