Assuming that his fico score its over 680, I would cash out via conventional loan. 203K its considered an FHA product, so he can not hold two FHA loans at this time if the last loan was expedited in the last 3 years.

Be sure to understand the product warrantee (ie expected lifetime).

Although to be fair its not like podcasts, products, books, gurus, etc out there paint a clear illustration of what REI failure looks like. 

Assume high quality product engineered hardwood (but not necessarily the highest), and professional installation.

The most productive way believe it or not was actually just using the biggerpockets networking section.

A year later the house came back on the market so I set up an appointment to peak at the finished product.

I have over 11 years of marketing experience developing marketing campaigns with big brands like Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm, 6 years of event production experience and over 11 years as an entrepreneur and small business coach. 

I say try to organize what you can now (get your product on the market), then iterate and implement improvements from there.

I believe they did not look at my personal DTI back then but I can't remember, and unfortunately, I'm not even sure if they still have that product available now.

There is a fannie mae product that is supposed to help with this situation.