There are places near but not in ski towns that can break even or cash flow a little.

This point is actually why I don't invest with some of my closest friends, even though we agree on many things.

You can make ALL your renters go there, even if they don't have an animal.

I'm interested in buying single family (even though I hate this idea at a young age) because of the appreciation and low multifamily volume.

BiggerPockets also has a calculator you can use to analyze deals and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

Even today, I'm finding properties in a Class C town, with 15%-17% CAP rates.  

Why even buy out the sister?

I've personally worked with a handful of "investor-friendly" lenders, primarily on DSCR loans in recent years, and each time I've run into significant delays, lack of transparency about the process, have been fed the requirements in a piecemeal fashion (every few days there's a new random request rather than having it all organized from the start), and have even run into lenders who were substantially misinformed about the real estate industry or the laws that govern it on both a local and federal level.I think there should be a better site to encourage accountability by tracking how long it actually takes each lender to close their loans on average, and what unexpected hurdles investors encounter when trying to work with them.I can't seem to find such a site.

They are not going to get anything better than 5% even if they had a social as rates are above 5%. 

Even if I were sued, I document everything and obey the law, so I won't be found guilty.