I have two rental properties through the VA loan being military.

@Matt PowersFrom my experience, deciding between short-term rentals (STRs) and long-term rentals (LTRs) depends on the market.

I'm born and raised in Houston and now work with a full service long-term rental management managing over 300 doors - all SF or MU (up to 4 unit).

We’ve done this exercise for ads in our market and the search volume is negligible Share a screenshot of your GA for us if you don’t mind showing your seo traffic and conversions According to Google the volume of the below search terms which your site ranks for is negligible so very very curious how much seo traffic you are getting and if you have your goal conversions setup which I’m sure you do it’ll show the conversions from this traffic source  Your screeenshots of form conversions mean nothing to me.

Quote from @Leonard La Rocca III: So is it common to find a conventional loan without meeting the lender in-person?

If the cosigner is not contributing funds but is just helping secure the loan, whats a fair way to compensate them?

To us, its a "Bridge Loan" (lol).

It's always better to check with your brother's CPA since he has all the background, but I would say short-term rental with material participation requirements met by your brother, then do cost segregation.

.~ I will most likely purchase the first home (multi-family) using a bridge-DSCR loan combo or a FHA203K (3.5-20% down). 

But I see people turning long term or highly appreciated primaries in to rentals.