The debt partnership with both of them has worked out very well.

Now that I've paid off my school debt and bought a car, I've been reading like crazy and listening to as many podcasts as I can about real estate investing. 

The Kedzie unit you mentioned would be more of a long term appreciation play since you would likely break even after all expenses + debt service. 

I can lock in my debt rate for 10,12,15 or 35 years on apartments (can't do that on other asset classes).Keep an eye on the spread between the 10yr treasury bond and the general cap rates for say multifamily.

@Chrissy Disch Generally not banks, that is too low, unless you buy several and combine them into a blanket loan.

Even if you never buy another property and just slowly pay down your existing debt (or not) the benefits of rental appreciation alone will take care of you.  

At one lender, he indicated that my debt-to-income ratio is too high, since I currently have three loans (primary residence and two investment properties, one of which I'd sell and 1031).My income is fairly high, and due to a job change, it's recently increased $20k. 

AKA the actual rate of return on a property you are feeding will generally be poor and you would be better off with a better cash flowing rental or in the stock market.Of course, if you found a great appreciating market or structured the debt to be shorter term, feeding a rental could work out well.

At a minimum, you need to verify their identity and their criminal record.I generally combine their income to meet my standard of 3x the rent but if there are three or more unrelated people renting together than I require each individual to make a minimum 2x the rent.

I used about everything that was suggested on the internet: Vinegar, Peroxide, baking soda, bleach, combination of peroxide and baking soda, mouth wash.