Have someone with sufficient income co-sign (parent, etc).

In certain areas, simply observing the neighborhood when your agent shows you the house is not sufficient in my opinion.

Those with way higher asset quantity and net worth may think differently, but i figure if/when I get to that point, they can try to get me then  lol.

I'm all about quality over quantity.

They always rather us wholesale.See the way wholesaling works, is that you should wholesale either Buy & Hold properties to buy and hold investors, OR wholesale deals that have so much meat left on the bone it makes sense to still be able to assign the contract to a flipper that they still have sufficient profit left.In other words you NEED to identify if that deal is a B&H deal or a flip deal.What most people do is they just get a contract signed for the lowest amount the seller is willing to accept, and they just try to wholesale it.

In this Houston market, though, we're starting to realize that may not be sufficient and we may HAVE to use lending for the initial purchases.

However, anything above 3-4 units you would also need to consider passing the Self Sufficient Rule (SS Rule) where your projected gross market rental at 75% has to be greater or equal to your monthly PITI.

Your records are sufficient enough for the IRS and any audit.

Another #1 rule is Don't break the #1 rules.There are endless ways to "wholesale" a property, so a simple "YES" or "NO" is not a sufficient answer to your question.   

I've been reading a lot on BP lately about leases and I feel the one that my tenant signed 2 years ago is sufficient but weak.