My goals are all based around being consistent. 

if his income is strong enough and not as much debt, he should be OKHope that helps..

You can then get financing either through refinancing the entire debt stack or getting a second mortgage with the same bank that did the first mortgage.  

Couple of notes based on comments you made in response to others:1.

I can buy a 2-4 unit with 20% down vs conventional can only buy a 2-4 INVESTMENT property with 25% down 4. there are options where DSCR loans dont repot to personal credit, helps in not having to show a bunch of paperwork or not one person in a partnership has to carry the debt5. way less paperwork to close on this loan type vs a conventional loan. we care about the income of the property you're buying and it's ability to service the debt of the property whether we use long term rents income, lease income, or air dna/bnb income.6. easily buy in partnerships, add people to your operating agreement, its as easy as that so bring partners into a deal. helps with scaling and raising capital or getting partners involved7. gift funds allowed to close on these as well, and like I said earlier, there's only a 10day seasoning period of funds with some lenders so that means you can literally have a private money lender deposit money into your account 11 days before closing, and you can use those funds to close!

And you do not technically have to replace debt. 

Quote from @John Lee: Hi all,My name is John and I'm a recent college grad about to start a Masters (SF/San Jose Area home base in California).

The challenge we're facing is the lack of short term rental data for the appraiser, and we won't know if it will meet the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) requirements until the appraisal is complete.Has anyone dealt with a similar situation?

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

The US has $9 trillion in debt maturing next year that they will have to sell new bonds for that debt.