I know it said you must have a hardship related to the disease, I think probably it won't be that difficult to prove that.

This is something you have to study in your market.

I'm a quick study when I'm immersed in the thick and thin of things. 

(I'm in the process of studying for the real estate exam but I'm afraid that we need to sell it before I get licensed) Any other help or words of wisdom you can offer would be really appreciated.

You can get around that by starting with a Phase I study.

My lender originally told me back when I bought my first property that I could if I could “prove it’s a necessary upgrade” (for example, if we said we were starting a family and needed more room).

I have yet to invest but I am certainly interested and have been putting in the time to study buy and hold rental property investing recently.The home I live in is owned by my grandmother, who will be deciding what to do with the property within the next couple of years. 

They prove that often.

It will be impossible to prove.

So far, I'm thinking inspection contingency, attorney contract review and acceptance, review of leases, financing contingency, estoppel agreements to prove the ownership of appliances and the status of deposits (many deposits on file are far lower than the monthly rents and sellers in Ohio regularly lie about who owns appliances and what the actual deposits on file are), unless there is a better way to approach this?