Just curious - what sort of rent can you get per room in a house there?

It's an opportunity to borrow money, sort of like a credit card.

Would that be possible to have a try before you buy sort of thing for the exclusive partnership? 

Real estate investing is definitely a solid way to reap the benefit of cash flow from an asset - I would recommend starting with a SFH and then working your way up to multifamily once you are confident and have a better idea of what you are doing - you could look into doing a HELOC or some other sort of refinance on your current home if you need proceeds for a down payment - I would highly recommend building a relationship with a lender who can help you with funds for the purchase of a rental.

However, like with anything else, some banks will often stretch, convolute, confuse and or distort what a customer identification program means or entails for all sorts of strange reasons that has nothing to do with identifying the customer.

Let them sort it out.

Outside of work I'm often outside doing some sort of activity (usually tennis) or in my basement doing some woodworking (new hobby).

What is it you're trying to do, start a new business of some sort, or find new ways to grow a business you already have? 

If you don't have those, any sort of bank financing will be difficult. 

It's important to have great insurance when doing things like this, and I can't imagine an insurance company would be thrilled with this sort of risk.