It’s great to hear that you’re already active in the Southern Maine market.

I find it strange that no one has if it's allowed, but if you are first to market, you are essentially the guinea pig.

If you do not qualify, you would then look into if you would qualify with renting your departing residence. 75% of the lease will be used to offset that departing residence mortgage. as you mentioned the timing of renting the place can absolutely be tricky so you would hope you do not have to do this.Finally, and I guess would be sorta of a trick, but we do bridge loans on occasion in this case IF you can qualify once you get the property rented at market value even if debt to income ratio is too high before it is rented.

You’ve already got a solid foundation—understanding market trends, deal structuring, and negotiations will give you a great head start.I would recommend focusing on learning one niche at a time.

@Linda PhamAll our midterm rentals are in Colorado as are our clients, so I don't know Houston's market.

While I have none in this market I have been on one realtors monthly newsletter with market analysis for over 8 years. 

Are you looking into certain investment strategies to begin or certain markets? 

The property was in a great market but needed a full cosmetic rehab and basement finish to add a bedroom and increase resale value.

If the latter, how does that look on a day to day in terms of operating, marketing, and the ownership structure?

IMO better options- If you don't need the money in the next 10+ years look into Annuities I'm seeing 7-9% and you don't have to participate in market downturns.