Sub2 and LOs are best for pretty houses with low equity I have found.You are close with your descriptions of seller financing and lease options, but close only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades and stretching carpet.  

I often recommend this strategy to newbies if it's feasible for them.You can use this financing to purchase a multi-unit property (like a duplex, triplex, or if you're lucky a quadruplex) and you're able to count up to 90% of the current rents in the property towards your income.

This means spending your first minute to contact the seller side (i count this because for me my time is money) to earning your last dime.

I just recently heard that some spots where you rent, it doesn't count on your credit report.

The GI bill does not count toward your income as far as the VA Loan is concerned.

How far in advance are the rooms reserved in order to declare this as fully rented, and count on it being fully rented in your calculations?

And easier to count rental income as well.Feel free to tag me and ask more questions if you need. 

For whatever reason FHA believes that moving down on the unit count means moving up in the world, so they are more lenient with people in a fourplex downsizing to a duplex, but will not allow you to go from an SFR to a dourplex, for whatever reason.

Michael, personally I would not count on any appreciation.

Would a cousin count?