A good guideline is to have their income be 3X the rent.  

But there may be some guide lines with section 8.

If you don't know the market you are trying to get into you shouldn't gamble it.

I'll continue my learning and saving and not gamble with the gift.

Each county & city will have different guidelines. 

This means it doesn't meet guidelines for conventional financing and thus is currently unfinanced. 

You will need regular reports and communication with them to insure they are following all your guide lines.

Hi @James Terry,There's actually a program we have that will let your intent to purchase the home to provide housing for a parent mean that you are offered owner occupant guidelines/rates/terms/LTV/etc even though you have no intent to live there.

while its a gamble to count on appreciation it makes little or no sense to me to deliberately invest some place that has a slim chance at best to appreciate. 

I suppose the goals I listed are more of a guideline for the amount of energy and time I am anticipating to invest in the coming years.