Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

The fees for us to do it were $492.50 and you can see the lender credited those back to us. 

I should note that this may be considered manufactured spending To your last point of the gifts funds....Per Fannie and Freddie guidelines, lenders can't allow gift funds on investment properties.

Current individual stock portfolio (non-retirement accounts) with holdings that might be volatile in the next few years (big tech & big oil). $51k is about 17% of the portfolio and gains on the stock holdings are already 100-200% (long-term).

If not rented at fair market rent, this property will just count as your residence, not a rental for tax purposes.Structuring the property under an LLC or land trust could trigger a due-on-sale clause, so check with the lender before proceeding.To minimize risk, consult a CPA for tax strategy, weigh financing costs, and draft a legal rental agreement.

up to 20% DSCR through lenders I deal with

By "Tax Loss" I mean that it is likely that without depreciation your property is cash flow positive.If you Materially Participate in the management of your portfolio of rental properties, that loss will be treated as Non-passive, and will flow through to page one of your Form 1040 tax return.  

I also looked at non canal homes which were a bit cheaper and they can do similar to canal homes but cost less so end up with better profitability.

You do have to keep an eye on your write offs to ensure you are showing a good NOI and not using too many write offs to show enough income to use for bank/lender underwriting on a mortgage/loan.

Scale Strategically (if this applies to your goals) Reinvest profits, use the BRRRR method (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat), and leverage 1031 exchanges to grow your portfolio tax-efficiently.I'm a mortgage lender at Aslan Mortgage Lending and would love to find time to talk and discuss your journey.