Not sure if it is state or federal, but if a turn down decision is made based on info in the credit report, landlords are required to declare that (but not what the specific reason is, there is a standard form that can be used) and give them the info to contact the credit bureaus themselves.We have no evictions as a stated criteria, but applicants don't always realize that there past poor behavior went far enough in the court system to be on the credit report.

I just wasn't sure if a different bank was willing to take a lower down payment but your post have cleared it up for me that if its not owner occupied then a 25% is pretty standard across the board mostly. 

IMHO Texas lends itself very nicely to a standard CMA approach for valuing SFR, regardless of whether they will be used as rentals.

I am currently unemployed, as I am studying for various standardized tests for grad school, but if I wanted to further pursue growing my real estate holdings what sort of options might some of you use?  

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I'm confused as to why this may not be doable.According to Realist, the numbers look good:RealAVM™ (1): $548,583 Confidence Score (2): 85RealAVM™ Range: $493,725 - $603,441 Forecast Standard Deviation (3): 10Is this not valid information to consider?

Sounds like that although FHA will allow the 3.5% down, the bank's standard is a little higher so that they're loan portfolio is higher quality/lower risk loans.

Like has been said, you should pay them for the bid if they don't have much chance of getting the work.The costs vary by area, but there should be pretty standard rates for painting per sq/ft, hanging Sheetrock per board, carpet per yard, hanging cabinets by box, etc.

I would 70% is the standard now instead of 65% since a lot of markets are now in seller markets.

But I know that many people look for "portfolio" loans rather than standard mortgages.