My brothers and I don't have an agent because we wanted to reduce any expenses (i.e. agent commission) we could since we are just starting out.

Just a method of reducing vacancy from the start and driving traffic just slightly with a simply modification.

Ask your employer's payroll department how many allowances you can claim to reduce your refund to an acceptable level. 

Me personally i would not fix anything in the house now. it will be a burden for your grandparents that are still living there. plan ahead and have the money and the contacts ready to move in on the house as soon as you can (i also hope its no time soon) but being ready should reduce the downtime for the house. and when the rent starts to come in you can use that to pay of the rest of your loans. let your money make the money you need to pay the loans... 

The deal I just did I took a reduced fee because she helped guide and walk through so many of the things. 

At the end of the day, all these things only help reduce the noise.

All being good answers will reduce your traveling there.

I would just have to reduce the term of the loan, which would require her to either move out or start paying rent sooner.Likewise, I could put 5k or 10k down so I have some skin in it, but again, that would shorten the term of the loan and require her to move out or start paying rent sooner.

The strategy is best described in Joel Greenblatt's fantastic book, and an outstanding practical guide and tool for executing it can be found over at the Magic Diligence website.You can do either (or both) of those using the "leverage" of Options, allowing for substantial upside potential compared to standard stock purchases, with dramatically reduced downside (if you want a no-hype education on Options, Erik Kobayashi-Solomon's book is great).Those with the patience and inclination can indeed use Option trading to make money in any market condition (Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and "Black Swan" author Nassim Taleb all spent time -- and made lots and lots of money -- as options traders in their careers).For even more leverage, you could of course do any of the above (and much more) on margin (meaning your brokerage lends you money to do the investment), though that's not something I would ever do personally.Also, if you focus on holding stocks (or options) for at least a year, you benefit from favorable tax treatment of the profits.

Both banks I use will allow seller held seconds to reduce the down payment.