If you have any feel for what the owner would do with the funds, such as put them into a 'safe investment' such as CDs or bonds you could try to use the benefit of a potentially higher interest rate with almost no chance of losing 'principal' (the equity in the house in this case). 

You can not obtain a lender's license and then a servicing endorsement unless you or someone within the company qualifies as the principal loan broker.  

So if your Principal and Interest payments also come close to or exceed 50% of your rent return - you're heading into negative cash flow territory!

The equity through principal pay down & appreciation allowed me to start a fund investing in apartments & more in my region.

Originally posted by @Jared Senne:so the town I want to buy in is hour and half away I would still stay there on the weekends though and I would be paying all the bills there and treating it like my own You wouldn't be living their a predominant portion of the year or as your principal dwelling so obviously this is not a primary residence.

You have now made it you principal residence for at least two of the last five years.  

I myself instead of contributing to the "rent" want to instead put money strictly into the principal to get it down as much as I can as fast as I can.

Just guessing but you would probably need to refinance the entire property adding the costs of the repairs to the principal assuming you have sufficient equity in the property to cover it.Local community banks and direct mortgage lenders like New American Funding are your best bets to pull it off.

Secondly, some people have recommended just hanging my license under an online virtual brokerage because its the cheapest option and you don't have to give any splits to the principal broker.

Then, following 3yr term of Principal+ Interest payment (no prepayment penalty).