I happen to think lease Options done right- full disclosure, tenant buyer in a credit repair program etc- serve a purpose and have value.

I live in a home which a state program helped to get me into.

The lender will still add the last previous years together and dived by two and take the middle income.My advice to you si that you should find a top lender in your area, one that is been in business at least 12 years, meaning that he was in the business when the "creative" way of lending was done and can run numbers on his calculator, not input numbers in a computer software program and see what the automatic underwriting tells him. 

The Program I work with is structured a bit differently from the standard market, so another agent may want to weigh in, but in general there will be a need for more liability coverage in the least as you have a higher risk on that end with more people coming and going from the dwelling.  

I graduated from undergrad in May 2014 and am currently working on my graduate program (I will graduate in December of 2015).  

Most of the graduate programs run around 25-30k per year.

Do you have any real life experiences or programs that helped you build credit quickly?

Well, there is no such thing as a "a bonafide RE Investor Coach"-- basically there are a lot of good coaches and there are some quacks to will sell you a program and offer little to your success.

You mentioned that you were denied because of your wife's work history, which implies you needed her income to qualify for the loan.Because she has not worked full time for the two years required to use her income to lower your dti's, you were denied, not because of discrimination.Your 100k income and 760 fico scores sound impressive, but don't matter if your dti's are too high.Try contacting a mortgage broker in your area that can get you wholesale rates vs the retail rates BAC would charge and this may be enough to lower your dti's, otherwise the mortgage broker may be able to offer you a different loan program that would help you qualify.Good luck and keep us posted.

After the completion of the 4-plex I will have about 50% of the total project in equity due to a program I'm using.