I will be working at the Illinois Institute of Technology since it is in the South so I am also looking for safe areas in the neighborhood of IIT. 

It is very true, big, institutional money is investing in the student housing sector pretty aggressively and if you don't have a house within a city block of the UofA, you are actually seeing rent rates go down as they lose out to the newer, nicer condo style buildings that have been built. 

Similar to their resolution to water conservation, Los Angeles instituted rain harvesting tanks as a requirement to any new roof areas built.

We live in Utah, does anyone know of any investor friendly financial institutions around Montgomery or just in general that are investor friendly.

I always recommend you check for a local chapter of the Community Association Institute.

Seek diverse perspectives beyond traditional financial institutions and learn from those who have excelled.Knowing who is handling your money and offering financial advice is essential.

Since instituting this policy, I've only had one situation where multiple friends rented together and it worked great.

The institutional hard money lenders will in most cases require some skin in the game.  

My reading of the rules is that 1099-INT is only issued by financial institutions like banks and not by private individuals.Your sister does not need to issue any IRS form (1098), either, because she is not in the business of lending.No forms, but she must report the income.

What I can say is that all lending institutions have very different criteria for evaluating creditworthiness.