I know it’s far fetched to assume that anything would happen in the near future.

Any steps anyone would reccomend taking now or in the near future?

for the future... come up w/ better draw system.

These losses will be suspended until the future until you have passive income (other rentals) or you sell that specific property and you can use the losses to potentially offset some the gain on sale.

That's what I would recommend doing to ensure that the rents you will get in the future will be similar to what they're projecting. 

It sounds great, I know, but the problem is my conscious and my potential to receive his support again in the future, I fear.

I 1031'd into a house now... probably will sell it in the future... if I got rid of the mortgage and did owner finance would that be "better" than another 1031?

Browsing through the website has been a great educator for me as well for my plans to invest in real estate in the future. 

If I wait til my credit score goes up, using credit cards and paying them in full every month, could I get to the point in the near future that I could use the 200k for 20-25% down, therefore getting a higher price investment?

Go ahead, efficiency is the way of the future and they will save you good money.