I think your best bet for something u can do right now would be to attend local metups in your area. network to other investors. try to develop a relationship with your local credit unions.

If you'd found this guy two or three months out there would be a few easy creative finance solutions involving above board vanilla 30YF Fannie stuff. 

I can find out whats important to them and what they need or want... but with a realtor involved there are a lot of unknowns and lost in communication issues.Ok... so my questions are: How do I propose this to a realtor and have it actually work? 

I've been looking for something like in the Beaumont area to get involved with.

I know most (well lets be honest ALL) of the answers involve knowing the law or getting legal advice, but as a landlord you want to make sure you are familiar with the requirements because it will come up.

I bet your instincts are telling you no while the numbers are telling you yes.

In your example, it's a complete change in the buyer, so I'd be willing to bet that the bank is going to take issue with it. 

Also x2 to what @Antoine Martel  said in terms of FHA most likely being your best bet if you want to house hack.

How involved do you want to be?

In my state anyway, there is nothing "minimal" about the time involved to be a Registered Land Surveyor (you need this to be able to "stamp' the survey).