Your lender definitely should be able to count the 75%- I'm in Arlington and would be happy to connect you with my awesome lender who has been able to do all kinds of creative options to get to yes for me.

That's why many businesses just close instead of being sold.Real estate investing provides a lot more creative angles than the stock market, but on a conceptual level, nobody would seriously attempt to replace their W2 income in a few years by investing a few thousand dollars in the stock market.

Cashflow is hard here but with STR and creativity it's possible, and the appreciation makes it worth it in my opinion.

To answer your question directly: a person should apply (whatever that means in your process) before being asked to screen.

We are reaching out to this amazing platform for some help and direction to get things rolling.

Can anyone point me in a direction to start?

I’d love to connect more directly in the near future.

. - that might be a situation where you would want to work with a contractor directly because you would have lots of different options with widely varying costs.

Research ways to use your education to help you qualify for a loan (did you know that some lenders allow college credits that translate directly to the line of work the graduate pursues to count towards work experience, accelerating the borrower's opportunity to get approved for a mortgage?). 

You can be as creative as you can imagine.