There are plenty of investment opportunities in the Detroit area as well which have the potential to offer immediate value, so I would weigh your options with care. 

Baselane was actually built for preparing taxes!

Rent by room is an option that many people do here but even then it's not easy, and several randoms living under the same roof calls for its own problems and likely a lot more turnovers, so I'll see.

Congrats on having an option. 

Options - collect full payment for the 3 months up front and lower the deposit to secure against damages only, require insurance.

They do not appreciate like actual real estate and your caliber of tenant can be lower which can bring with it its own problems. 

Assuming they're telling the truth what are my options.

You might have other options to explore to drum up liquidity (HELOC, Margin Loan, Policy Loan, etc) that can supplement your HYSA in the DP.

For example Hospitable has a option for this through there direct bookings payout sections but it is only for specific states.

Our lender has informed us that we need 12 months of rental history to use the actual rent for financing purposes, or we must rely on the appraiser's fair market short term rental value.