@James SorgeIf you live within the live-in-flip for 2 years you may potentially be able to exclude some or all of the gain upon sale.

Look for an investment partner who will put up some or all of the cash in an equity-sharing partnership.

Are you leveraging the property or all cash?

You could always consider purchasing a multi-family primary residence and let the rental income pay most or all of your mortgage.

In Ohio there are a few grey areas... a case law that ruling that a daily late fee might be excessive in some situations, you can't charge a late fee with an oral lease.

Is there a way for us to obtain that goal while still having some or all of the income also count towards my income when calculating DTIFor example, if we both were on title and we both signed the lease when renting it out, would she only be able to count 50% of the income or would she still be able to apply all of the income towards her DTI?

Or all of the above and more? 

You can always refinance some or all of your money in the future to pay the principal back.

Id suggest taking in an experienced partner, someone with more money than time that can advise and can fund part of or all of the deal. 

In order for me to go into Partnership with ANYONE, whether or not I know them personally, I do what the Bank does to Borrowers.The reason why this is important NOT only for knowing the quality of the Partnership, but it also improves your chances of getting Loans as one or all of the Partners may need to personally Guarantee the Loan, and that implies Credit Worthiness.So what does the Bank do?