What is her debt to income ratio?

So I don't have a business model in which to provide you, but my two cents:1) Identify what your main bottle neck is in the process.

I would focus on building my skill sets, paying down debt , building a nest egg - savings, 401K, Roth IRA, etc - and continuing to educate yourself. 

I've been interested in Zanesville for awhile, mainly because of the university and hospital that are located in a good part of town. 

So "running the numbers" for me looks like this:123 Main Street is a Triplex that pulls in $5,000 per month in total income.

I know we’ll get approved to pull cash out but my concern is that we’re adding debt to our residence...I know we’re sitting on some solid leverage but am hesitant to continue pulling cash out of our primary residence.

Main thing now is to develop your rehab plan.

Mainly that ifyou will be limited to the amount of….Your purchase price + closing costs (costs when you purchased the home) OR....75% of the “After Repair Value”…WHICHEVER IS THE LOWER AMOUNT (super important)

They are fairly common once you have built up enough equity.One tax issue that you may want to be aware of (if the commercial property is in an entity like an LLC) is the debt-financed distribution rules. 

If he doesn't want to use debt to leverage his current sum, it's going to be a slower climb, but with less risk (ie if a property he buys with cash sits vacant, he doesn't have mortgage payments to cover).