I can speak to a lot of these issues as someone who is a landlord.
I bought a house with my wife, lived there a bit and moved (rented).
I kept the house and rented it out.
Two years later bought another house to live in.
Have high debt and virtually no equity on both houses.
Was able to get the loans even in this tough environmnet and make the payments.
I did have to replace the A/C in the first house house along with other repairs and had it vacant a few months.
This basically meant credit card debt.
But in 15 years I could get net $100K out of the house that would wipe out any debts and I will have $200K + coming a number of years after that.
High risk early, good rewards years down the road.
So the first question is whether you want to be a landlord or not.
Play it safe and gain nothing. Take risks and responsibilities and have a nice gain if you have patience.
The next question is do you do this with your parents.
Actually, my mother wanted to live in my rental but I knew she couldn't make the payments and I couldn't make up the difference in cash myself. She had to find a cheaper situation. Very tough for me to deal with that and my wife.
The OP may have a different situation. Maybe his parents are OK with income but had an event in their past that ruined their credit.
That's just a personal decision.
You can't look at an investment home as a vehicle that you have gains or even break even right away.
You budget to have losses for several years and then turn the corner at some point, where you then will have gains that keep building.