They can be daunting, it doesn’t make sense for most people to tackle these, especially if they have a full-time career for are enjoying retirement.One example is debt.

My brother is active in fix and flips and rentals but is not in a position to co sign at this time, so we are trying to get creativeCurrently her debt to income is 71 percent based on a two year average of her income that is at 4800 gross.

REI has the benefit of Leverage (no margin calls, as long as you lock in your Debt) and Tax Avoidance.

And will the underwriting of the loan will be based only on my debt/equity?

One with total debt of $165k  on it currently, one with about $60k on it, and no other loans on other 2 houses. 

No debt.

The other positive is cash flow, appreciation, leverage and debt paydown. 

Essentially, they would count the mortgage debt against me but not use the rental income I am getting from that single family home family rental to qualify me. 

So yes, you can buy a property closer but how much more debt will you take on vs how much cash flow?

From there you should be able to calculate your net operating income (NOI) which is the income you earn before paying any debt service assuming you are financing the investment.