Since he is a friend of yours he might be open to letting you rent with some sort of credit towards buying the place in a year or two.

Running a Mortgage Credit Report on any potential tenant will pull up more dirt than a worthless online consumer credit report.If you have someone with an 800+ score, make concessions to have them as renters.If you have someone with a 580 score, pass!  

With PNC i may not have enough credit is my only worry unless maybe i decided to go FHA if that was an option.

Still hurts the seller's credit, but less than a foreclosure. 

So theoretically all I need now is to build a decent credit score in the US and I could get Freddie/Fannie loans without actually being a US resident?

@Jermaine Riggs   Remember the 6PsPrior Planning Prevents P*ssPoor Performance There are steps that you can be taking today that will better ensure you will be able to qualify for the best of terms on your purchase in TX.1. have a Mortgage Broker run a Tri-Merged MORTGAGE credit report and pay the extra $15 for them to also run the "What If" score increase simulator to know how best to pay down debt in the interim2. start eating MREs and saving like a maniac until you close as the more money you can show in reserves Post-Closing, the better the programs you can qualify for.etc,etc,etc,   

I plan on purchasing mf in the downtowns of the cities surrounding Houston, mainly those with a more “Americana” type of feel( white picket fences, 4th of July block parties, neighbors worship together, founding families are still around and they let you know it, high walkability score, families are out on the street with neighbors, doors are unlocked.....)It is tough to comp certain property because they might be the only type (or one of the only two) AND some of these towns do not allow any more MF to go up, so the MF owners set the market.

I’m curious if anyone has experience using a line of credit within a JV or other partnership and if so, how have you structured it?

I wasn't paying a loan application fee, credit report fee, loan origination fee or points.

The U.S. subsidiaries of three of the Big-5 Canadian banks (TD, RBC, BMO) will lend to Canadians based upon your credit history and financial resources here at home (with some limitations/restrictions).