If he needed something beyond the standard business forms and Schedule E, I could give him limited access to my Baselane portal, just like my bookkeeper had limited access.

USDA does not.If you have a job gap (6+ months of unemployment) on an FHA loan, then you have to go back 2 years prior to the job gap AND be back to work for 6 months before you are eligible.How to avoid this? 

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

I also treated studying like a full-time job.

So you feel like you get plenty of money from your not paid off rentals that allow you to quit your full time job? 

1.Finding Value: Identifying properties with strong upside potential is critical in markets like Antioch.2.Rehab Management: Staying under budget and on schedule ensures better cash flow and quicker refinancing.3.Leverage Matters: The HELOC strategy allows me to scale quickly and acquire more properties without tying up personal capital.

I'm fairly handy, but just to balance things with my 9-5 job, focusing on something that just needs superficial updates or something nearly turn-key is probably best. 

It's an amazing market here with so much incoming growth due to population growth, job growth, and companies moving/developing here!

When we looked at purchasing a fulling running B&B it was more like 30% with a bunch of criteria we had to meet.Check out this link - https://www.sba.gov/funding-pr...The 504 is for large investments that drive job creation.

Good luck either way and good job on the remodel.