That doesn't look like pending economic disaster to me, but who knows what the future holds.I am interested to hear what others have to say.

just in case to have in the future if they ever wanted to start investing in real estate

Then they sell their future payments at a discount to fix their problems.  

Secondly, at what threshold is DTI a concern when planning for a future home purchase for myself and potential wife to be?

I am looking to make a sizable SEP IRA contribution to reduce my tax liability, but I don't want to hurt my ability to borrow in the future by not making enough income. 

If the deal is a good one regardless, I would move forward with it, keeping in mind that you'd want to these things in the future.

So if we can use those as investors we try to since we will cash flow better and qualify for other loans easier in the future. 

Hopefully in the future we have more rental properties that are not house hacking but that is a year or two away. 

I noticed the LEED for homes green rater credential and was wondering if this would help be beneficial to my career as a future real estate investor (focusing on single family rentals in western michigan).Does anyone else have experience with LEED and this credential?

If we plan on purchasing more investment properties in the future do you suggest creating individual LLCs for each property for further protection?