Willing to extend benefit of the doubt to someone packing up shakers (not paying attention), and yes, all this is small beans and easily replaced.

but the $7000 to pay off the vehicle will only save me about $600 in interest whereas investing that 7k into another home or renovations, like adding a new bathroom to my current 3bed 1bath home, would yield way more than the money saved.

I would recommend BackFlip, but you do pay a little more on fees. 

You can stack those up and pay the debt down 

I even heard of a landlord being sued and losing and having to back pay all the rent payments. 

They have some of the most extensive fees because this way they can charge you fees but low points.You can expect to pay about 1,500 in closing cost fees: Legal, processing, underwriting.To get in a good loan, you would need some experience in real estate flipping/holding preferably in Houston and be 100k liquid and have credit 700+.You fill those three needs and I can help you for sure.

She will be finishing up her doctorate and finding a job and I will be finishing up my degree and getting a better paying job (hopefully) in the next 6 months.

More tenants only need a 2 bedroom than a 3 bedroom and are not willing to pay an extra $500-600 for the 3rd bedroom.  

When creating a list, you are essentially filtering homeowners based on who might seem most likely to sell.You can check your local county records site for properties with delinquent taxes, probate cases, or foreclosure filings

His rent pays our property taxes, our water and sewer bills and will be paying to replace the windows in three of his rooms come springtime.