If you choose to borrow the funds to pay it, then only the interest expense should affect your CCR.Hopefully, others with additional expertise will respond:)

You may want to see if you can claim real estate professional status now or sometime in the future based on your participation within real estate of being a landlord in addition to being an agent.You may want to have your past couple of returns looked at for review to see if they were done correctly.

I always, always ask "Just out of curiosity, have you thought about investing in any additional real estate for your self?"

It has been vacant for a couple years, do you think that there might be additional problems that will skew my numbers in a large way?

If it increases monthly cash flow that is always a positive, it does also give additional asset but it comes down to what kind of loan you are getting and all the other factors as well. 

Again, this is another think to explore with a mortgage broker.

That provides no additional protection.

In addition, Ms.

If you're concerned about how the yard looks, I would recommend using grass seed that is native to Texas and can handle the heat in addition to xeriscaping to save on water. 

Also if he has his own liability insurance, my home is insured what added benefit does getting me added as additionally insured provide?