In a podcast @brentin hess mentioned in passing paying someone to be a co-signer. Has anyone here done that? What is a reasonable payment for the other person, and how fast can you get them off the loan?

keep having him come back until it is fixed or until he offers to pay you to go awayonly go after his paperwork if he starts ducking youlet the guy fix his mistake. leaks can be hard to diagnose and often require process of elimination, which takes time and several storms and unfortunately often more damage

IF there is a recession not having the house of cards that is debt will put you in the most secure position, however just having the ability to purchase will probably be enough because in a recession sellers would have a harder time selling properties and in a true recession you wouldn't have an absolute ton of competition from cash buyers like the case is now.

I would like to start as a Part timer while I continue to snowball  some of my debt so I can lighten my monthly bill load.

You will, in theory, never have positive cash flow with debt repayment at $416 and expenses at $400.

I'm an engineer by profession so like to get into the weeds when my money is involved.Seems a deed of trust does exactly what it's name implies ... in exchange for a loan, the property owner deeds (conveys) legal (not equitable) title to a trust, giving the trustee specific powers, namely, the power of sale if default, and power to (re)convey when debt is satisfied, and probably other powers. 

Originally we thought they were just the debt collector but they served him papers for a judicial forclosure claiming he owed them almost double what was remaining on his principal due to back taxes and home insurance payments that I highly doubt they have been paying.

A little insight @Brandon Williams, Shorewest pulls data from the MLS's IDX feature, the most up to date data for non Realtors is Realtor.com.3&4 units tend to be in high demand for the casual investor, the debt level is not terrifying, and most owner own maybe 1 or 2 properties, as a diversification play in their retirement strategy, this makes them highly desirable, and pushes the price up.

I did my first deal with a mountain of debt and I was making ~45k salary.

Also, Freddie SBL will not allow secondary debt so your leverage will be your leverage until you refinance.