@Miles Thompson When we have done major renovations like this, we utilize construction mortgages through our mortgage brokers which give us the funds to perform thw ork in draws.

As far as questions you can get a pretty good picture from:1) are utilities all separated?  

Is that something folks here utilize to fund their short term rentals?

My key areas of rejections are: any past eviction in last 7 years, past due car payments, judgements/bankruptcies , utilities in collections, address/social security mismatches(I've caught a lot of scammers this way), fake landlord references(usually caught through simple county searches).

, and 3) if you also invest in Huntsville, do you feel like that this is a good market to utilize either one of these strategies?

Our clients have had some great wins in this market by utilizing an appraisal gap strategy. 

I do have some personal funds that I could utilize in the 1st year if needed. 

The landlord is paying all utilities for these tenants.

Since you and your children will be living there, it sounds fair for you to cover the utilities and pay your partner 50% of the market rent for your property (you can negotiate that).

It looks like my monthly bills may be closer to $2300/month with utilities.