You are trying to predict whether or not they will be long term or short term tenant because of over qualifying when in reality they will be there for at least the length of the lease. 

My wife and I are both 22 years old, and currently we live in her parents basement, we are trying to look for our first real estate investment detailed below, does anyone have any tips/tricks into buying a house in the Spokane Area.We have been looking into buying into a house when a housing crash occurs (some predict after all this Covid-19) - a house that I can live in for at least a year- renovate the inside while living there- in a decent neighborhood, so that I can rent it out after- kind of like a live in BRRRR Strategy.Is there any tips that anyone has while looking for houses or neighborhoods in Spokane to stay out of (felony flats, hillyard, and brownes addition)

I totally get the nervousness, but as wiser people than me have pointed out, get a good deal and don't worry about predicting the future.

There's not really a way to predict future appreciation.  

In single family investing, how does one accurately predict what area will appreciate and which ones will not?  

I don't know if you've seen the predictions on market segments that may not recover from the pandemic but student housing is on the top of the list. 

Not everything, everyone, and every moment will you be able to predict.

Soh Tanaka How do you predict a tornado?

From my observations, building credit is easiest and safest with predictable and regular expenditures (like gas and groceries).

I wouldn't say that it's risky, especially if you can afford the higher payments without the additional cashflow coming from your next property.This is a standard method of building wealth, the same way you're leveraging a mortgage on your rental property with the exception of your down payment, again you'd be simply leveraging debt to earn a bigger yield with predictable cashflow.Now how you structure that equity take out or Home Equity Line on your home WILL impact your long term borrowing goals.I'll send you a DM to instruct further on this.Jacob