When pressed further he gave me some vague comps, however "my" house in question is a 2bd/1ba and when I asked, most of his "comps" were 3bd/1.5ba and one was 4bd/2ba!

One of them is my RE agent.

My plan is to househack by staying in one unit and rest out other three.

Buyers agent will still be paid, but now you have to communicate your value to your client.Jumping from one thing another isn't going to solve your issues.

Are these both rentals or is one of these your primary?

A guarantor is just one more point where things can go wrong.

One of my major screening criteria is you must have the deposit and first month's rent plus pet deposit within 48 hours of acceptance. 

I have done a few rent to owns over the years, I actually just closed on one the beginning of September.I Converted a long term tenant into a buyer.  

@Hannah Meyer the one consideration not said yet I would point out, is if you thought you might want to manage other people's rentals in a few years but not now, you need to wait 24 months after getting your agent's license to get your broker's license.

Even people that find me direct often then book through one of the platforms, which is fine to me.