DTI had become my hurdle, making regular plain vanilla mortgages difficult.

You will never see 2.1% again in your life so before you move you should do all of the renovations with the equity so it's fully updated when you decide to leave so it actually becomes a strong cash flow property and not one you leave with stuff to do and it all comes up at once.

@Joe MonaghanJoe, do you have any updates in this project?

One reason they should be able to do that is literally because they manage a lot of properties and can toss contractors business on a regular basis.

As far as saturation goes when the boom was hitting we started seeing regular homes and even mobile homes get converted to “cabin/chalet” rentals.  

Kudos to your regular buyer agent for "stepping aside" and staying out of a transaction where he/she might not be needed. 

The property is listed for $259,900 and needs new floors and updating to the kitchen and bathrooms.

We are a capital partner and move like no Lender can move. thats where the great deals are going or at least what i see as its my day job LOLPS  in the old days  the west coast buyer had to get pre approved by the west coast mortgage lender and that included an appraisal up front so we knew the numbers would work then when rehab was done the mortgage brokers simply had the appraiser do a 442 update and the file closed. 

Good luck and keep us updated!

If it is a regular rental, draw up paperwork that clearly outlines how much money they lent you, when it will be paid back and how much (eg if you buy a house for $400K and 10 years later they move out and it sells for $500K-do they get a percentage of the profit (after taxes and costs)?