Nice, great points. 

They are a very nice couple, and I want to do everything I can to help.

Myself with 6 inch thick tax returns and no NON commercial underwriter can really under stand them LOL  its frustrating no doubt. but it was necessary to protect the industry.as @Chris Mason  a great private RMLO is worth their weight .. we use one in Oregon for our deals here I would never go anywhere else.. been 16 years with same person..

And they really wanted to dive into my connection to the area.Now do I know how much weight a loan committee put on each of those contributing factors?

I'm a newbie in MF so I know of this confusion firsthand.I have pointed this out a few times but your weighing in on it sure carries a whole heck of a lot more weight!

Very nice guy to deal with in my experience.

I know many on this site will disown me for this but buy a place you can easily afford that is "nice" or "decent".

Not sure if the rental property is in the same location as your location tag but if it is the high desert more or less rides or dies with the overall RE market, you have a lot of owner occupants out there now because they can afford to buy reasonably nice homes out that way but not on the other side of the mountain. 

Worry about nice later...

The closet systems are nice, but remember the more moving parts you have, the more things there are to break and maintain.