My post is simply an opinion of this partnership model not being all that great for "partnership", or "passive investing", or really any mechanism of employing my capital. 

As far as waiting until you graduate: either option would work but I would imagine your biggest obstacle at the moment would be that you do not have a set record of wages from an employer.

Need letter from employer that either says they allow remote work or the hire is for Texas location. 

HELOCs are much tricker than a closed end second - they don't typically allow you to close in an LLC and they are full doc qualification, meaning your FICO, employment history, income, DTI etc all come into play.

For example: A small town has a large employer close down.

Solid employment history.  

Real estate's "gross rent multiplier" is Wall Street's "sales to revenue",  "cap rate" is roughly "P/E ratio".When evaluating markets and investments I tend to start with GRM (or lazily the 1% rule), then attempt to return a cap rate based on assumptions about costs, then I work my way to multiple years of projections (assumptions about inflation, amortization, tax benefits, etc), and if I am partnering with one of my smart friends I have to pull up an IRR (internal rate of return).I also look at regional employment levels, median income to rent ratio in the zip code etc. 

I use the 3x rent for my first barometer, steady employment, good credit, and of course 3 years of rental history.

Our market is stable with strong job growth from major employers moving and developing here like Meta, Intel, Amazon, etc.

But if employing your family works for you and for them - great, go ahead.