In the commercial world they always look at the NOI compared to the cost to service the debt and those type of loans typically do not report on your personal credit report.

Depreciation is a tax deduction that reflects the costs of wear and tear, deterioration, or obsolescence of the property.

Any income you make from the tenants is going directly to your mortgage reducing your cost of living which is the #1 goal for house-hacking. 

SCOPE OF WORK: Basically, a lender wants to see that you thought this through and understand the costs involved.

Primarily interested in long distance markets due to prices in my area (San Diego/California).At a stage where I am evaluating my savings versus the upfront costs to get into a STR property.

It's got a large cost per night and our target demographic isn't "cookie cutter" like most listings. 

I’d like to hear how other investors feel about using “subject to” as the advantages of (1) no qualifying, (2) lower interest rates and (3) no financing costs seem like enough to turn a marginal deal into a worthwhile investment. 

Might cost you $5k to $10k but it will help you lease that space to a restaurant. 

For example, I have found some very affordably priced properties in NY (state), but after looking at the laws in that state, they have very linient tennant laws that can take several months plus an attorney to evict, therefore not only losing rent but costing to evict. 

Have you looked into cost segregation studies, bonus depreciation, 179D, historical tax credits, etc.?