I see now that it would behoove me to have more skin in the game, in order to show any contractor(s) that I work with that I am not out to waste time. 

My options are 1) to go with the current appraisal and leave more skin in the game than I wanted to, 2) cancel out the loan app and resubmit in a couple weeks or 3) start from scratch with a different lender.What would you do?

Here are my (thus far unsubstantiated) concerns:  (1) once they turn 21 there will be irresponsible use of alcohol involving visitors to my property; (2)  they are too immature to respect other peoples' property and will not take care of the apartment; (3) when they break up in 3 months, I'll be back to square one - this time in the dead of winter.I could do a guarantor, but here in NYS we cannot collect any additional deposit beyond one month's rent, so I would have another person to seek damages from, but they would not have any monetary "skin in the game." 

@Jerry W. definitely jump into dynamic pricing software. 

., I couldn't do it, no skin in the game and they want up to 40%, no way, that's a partner so I might as well just have a partner right. 

As much as many markets have been saturated with numbers, many have also been saturated with quality.Remember, the selling point in the Smokies in 2019 was that the cabins were run by dinosaur PM companies that charged 40%, didn't list on Airbnb/VRBO, didn't use dynamic pricing, didn't have any unique features to the cabins, didn't respond to guests quickly, had poor ratings, etc. 

Some simple things to think about:Lenders want you to have skin in the game. 10% plus closing costs.

It's you equivalent to having skin in the game. 

Quote from @Ran-D Baldwin: There's more than one way to skin a cat.

While my fascination lies predominantly in the investment aspect, I've found myself constrained by the lack of initial capital required to embark on the investment side of this dynamic industry.