@Nicholas Hill, the location of your qualified intermediary isn't as critical as their experience and responsiveness. 

The overall location is great, so it probably wouldn't be terrible either way.

Im sure location takes part in pricing.

Is the property insured as a second location on your home policy or on a stand alone policy? 

Since the property is located so close to you, and you already know that it is vacant along with recent history, I would try to locate the home owner's phone number and call him or her directly.

The only catch is the location.

Location is in the midwest.

Or would you wait and try to find a good combination unit to live in / rent out, but possibly face +1 to +2% interest rates.There seem to be a few locations where I might be able to roughly breakeven if I move out 1-2 years from now and rent it out, but they are in suburban areas that far from DC, and as a single guy in his late 30's, it concerns me that I'd end up being a hermit.How would you balance lifestyle vs. investing at this point? 

Everything that remotely smells like advertising is deleted in the forums :-( thus the paid marketplace area (hint).Since BP doesn't have non-US cities to choose when hosting and arranging local events, some people (wink) might have to choose a US location but be sure to add local keywords to their headlines and content.

We look on there for retreads and aged properties to see if the owner would do a big drop from asking that other buyers have forgotten about.It's not our main source for locating properties just a very small piece.