Than, hey, go ahead and make federal lands available, in the normal sense ie SELL SOME! 

To get pre-approved for a loan, speak with a mortgage lender, research neighborhoods that fit your budget and lifestyle preferences, and consult with a real estate agent.Good luck!

The breakeven point for solar is normally 10 - 15 years.

That is just normal not saturated in those cities, lot of blue collar. 

This emphasis on scaling as quickly as possibly means you’re going to become a door chaser and you will look for markets that cater to that objective which normally means weak underlying fundamentals.   

Putting that much down with a normalized interest rate I assume the cash flow is there. 

Is this normal for this type of loan?

Everything is talking about the regular "get a mortgage buy a house wait for market to drop wait for rates to go down" which is totally fine and normal (and mostly how I make money as a realtor) but there are way more ways to buy than just that route!!

If you still have those properties and mortgages 10 years from now, rents will likely be much higher, and the value of the cash you are using to pay the mortgages will be much lower even assuming normal 2-3% a year inflation.

If I were forced to pick, I would suggest focusing on Austin due to its tech-driven growth and lifestyle appeal.