Since you're still in college, you can also use your education as employment history when applying for a mortgage.Overall, it's important to be proactive and do your research when it comes to preparing for a rental property investment.

You need to inspect their present residence, confirming employment, contacting previous landlords to confirm payment etc. 3rd party does not check for any cash for keys bribes previous landlords may have paid or records of late payments, upkeep of their present residence or pets.To screen properly you must do a portion of it yourself. 3rd party should only be to gather credit report, known evictions and criminal.

Is there a setup to avoid paying self employment tax/  SS/Medicare, ect.? 

It's a self-employed business.  

My goal is to get out of paying as much self employment tax and put more money in a SEP IRA.

I also employed a 203k renovation to replace the roof.

On top of that, hopefully you are already running you active business via S -Corp to save on self employment taxes.Also the deadline to contribute to  deductible IRA by April 15th, that’s $5500 deduction on top of your SEP.

The economy from an employment perspective is still so strong people still aren't even wanting to work because labor participation is still below pre-pandemic levels.

(and I don't mean granular detail, but stuff like your employment status and DTI are important, as is the type of property you're looking at and its location)

This restriction could be due to your employment status, income, credit history, and liquid asset requirements - however with a non-qualified mortgage, private lenders focus on; high credit score, investing experience, and liquid assets.