It might cost you a little but it could save you a bundle down the road. 

I think that would be a good idea, since the real obstacle for me is getting the savings for a down payment setup.

I'm a big believer in Diy, but you need to balance the savings of diy with the cost of holding the property.

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?

My ultimate goal is to open up my pharmacy with little debt and have people run it for me.

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.