The home office deduction can either be calculated as the percentage of the home that is EXCLUSIVELY used for business (associated expenses would be multiplied by this percentage), or a simplified option which is $5/sqft with a maximum of 300 sqft.At any rate, this does nothing for you DTI.

Simplify your post and questions.

I also got "Real Estate for Dummies" which has less humor and is a bit dry, but it helps with all of the little details along the way and simplifies several concepts. 

Simplify the ProcessIf you want to spend less time arguing with renters over timely payments, make paying the rent as convenient as possible.

Let's simplify a bit and assume that I can figure out the ARV on my own.

I’m a new investor and I have what’s called info overload and I kind of need a simplified approach to procuring a deal after I find it and the steps that I should go through can any one help me with this seriously.

When that day comes, it's helpful for each property to have as simplified of a paper trail as possible.

I might simplify things and have him put up the money for materials up front and use that to determine his share of equity in the deal.

In reality that's not necessarily true, but it is a heuristic that we use to simplify a massively deeper issue.Them's my thoughts.  

I also would use LLC's to simplify your structure.