Renting your personal dwelling while owning and renting other houses, duplexes or apartments is a reasonable approach, and...Perhaps patience is a decent idea for you in this situation, because you may come out way further ahead if you wait to buy until July.

He needed the money to push work on a 14 unit apartment building which is almost done and was supposed to be refinanced to finish the fix with the new construction loan and also he was to pay me back from that refi.

In other words, push responsibility for deposit to the tenant.

I am in agreement with @Will Fraser where there is a difference in investing from speculation.Yes the surrounding areas are some of the hottest in Philly, with new construction all over the place, but it's very hard to imagine that he development will push up into those areas.

This has been a blessing because I have been educating myself more and more while watching rates push lower. 

They can do a cash value policy for investment property that is much, much more reasonable than what the other companies will quote you as they're usually pushing replacement cost which on these old buildings in south city is significantly more than the property is worth, thus the crazy premiums.

Tight inventory is pushing prices higher, so when forbearance ends and they are forced to sell, they likely walk away with even more equity.

BRRR is difficult here as prices are being pushed higher with low inventory.

I got a refi quote from my current provider at 3.25%, problem is, they were giving me a lot of push back and did not want to approve me claiming high debt to income ratio.

Unfortunately you may need to lower somewhat, $1175 total monthly is pushing it for a 1br that isn't new construction..