EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

It is also a good idea and a small cost compared to the overall project. 

Factor it in to your costs.3.

The area offers higher-end flips but comes with a higher buy-in cost.

Single family homes have the benefit of the tenant paying all utilities, taking care of all landscaping/snow, and lower cost replacement when things go wrong (a roof on a single family home is a lot less then on a large multi).

To me a successful house hack is being able to live with your net mortgage payment being lower then it would cost you to rent the same property. 

San Antonio is known for its relatively lower cost of living compared to many other major cities in Texas.

I would ask the lender you applied with to disclose how they calculated your DTI... sometimes they fail to add back in depreciation or deduct costs from your schedule E like tenant turnover, improvements, etc. that shouldn't be included in the DTI calculation. 

You’ve just flushed thousands waiting to end up with a dog anyway. 

When you sell the property and gain the difference between the sale price and the cost to you, that's profit.Net profit to you on a rental is the cash flow.