With your lease, make sure you have an early termination clause, pest control, pet fees,  and the # and limitations, also I would recommend requiring renters insurance.     

Taxes and insurance are high here in illinois to where we're paying 400 to 450/mo. 

Some brokerage wants you pay $2500 insurance in lump sum not to mention most have desk fee, technology fee, background checks.Suggest wait til you move to NC.

I have a down payment and great credit but the bank seems to think my D:I ratio isnt acceptable ( Ive since paid off two student loans and a CC and my wife paid off her auto loan ).

You should take into account the expenses that go along with it, taxes, insurance, are you going to keep the utilities on you will need heat if you don't want pipes to freeze or you will need to winterize the property, if you are financing you will have those costs.

Also, do not forget to have seller pay for title insurance.

Here’s one I’m asking as a renter, though it’ll also be good to understand once we have rental properties:My annual lease renewal is coming up, and I’m now required to have $100k of renter’s insurance and to put the landlord on the policy.

Hi,I keep reading conflicting things about how to handle insurance for a "subject to" purchase. 

@Lindsey Crawford it depends on several factors, primarily how much it will cost you out-of-pocket for gas, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, etc. 

For example, for insurance, maintenance & repairs reserve, utilities, and PM, i generally assign 10% of the monthly rent to these.