The financing arrangement must be at arms-length and cannot involve a disqualified person (e.g., you, your spouse, family members, or certain business entities tied to you).

Personally I think it's great as I was already doing this (I do not work for free) and now my competition has to as well.  

Doesn't seem to be a lot of options around here for that though3) Continuing to rent where we live, and buy a separate property to rent outI personally feel like having my brother to help out as a renter is a huge advantage.

Will be a better question for your CPA in my opinion, they'll have better visibility into what strategy will work best before filing season and EOY. 

I don't know, that's a personal preference.

You likely will max out before 10 though as the average person with average income will have difficulty qualifying after a few loans because of things like the DTI (debt to income ratios).

That is super strange on the xls file!

She was also the “boots on the ground” person which allowed me to work remotely and be with my baby.

If you are buying in a LLC there is typically a loan agreement and personal guarantee that is common

Sometimes when placing an offer --  the POS is not yet available - and when you place an offer you can make your offer contingent upon approval of these items... although in order to have a competitive offer in this seller's market you are basically forced to "assume" the pos violations once they become available (usually 2-3 weeks after it's been ordered) -- you should be able to tell if anything more serious might come up on the POS via your own personal inspection.