If they don't qualify for a loan due to bad credit or lack of a down payment when they start renting the house, they will have a hard time saving up the necessary money and repairing their credit in the 2-3 years during an option period. 

I have 11 months left on my rental agreement and I’ll need that time to save for my first purchase, would it be a bad idea to see how much I qualify for now or should I wait?

I would try like hell to save up that $13k, and go at it by yourself.

Personal savings and consumer loan How did you add value to the deal?

You should incorporate those into your initial fixup cost. make notes of remaining life of big ticket items (e.g. roofs) and see how much money you have to save every month to cover those capex (which you can save from your rents).

I find that logic doesn't appeal to folks in these communities even when you can show them that it saves them money vs. renting long term.

I have personally seen people lose dollars (6 figure dollars) trying to "save" money on commissions.

If you pay $5,000 to your accountant who will save you $15,000 on taxes, it's a totally different picture, right? 

I'd also like to design a flyer the HR department could give to new hires who might be relocating from another state and another flyer for retiring employees.I have never worked for this size of company, so I don't know how they function.

In the past I owned my own construction company but now I have a full time position as well as this retirement plan.