He didn't know I saw him getting out of his car carrying groceries.

Here in Oregon we aim for 25-35% down for owner carried complexes.

I personally don't, but I'm not carrying my groceries up and down.

Asset based mortgages carry a better rate but you are going to have your assets locked up not able to touch until you refinance or sell the properties.

Investing in another state carries some of these same risks but to a much lesser degree.Every time I've looked at something abroad the risk / profit trade-off seems imbalanced vs. what I can do within the US.

Knowing you have properties in Northern California, do you carry earthquake insurance for any of your investment properties? 

$20hr, same as the person who carries your food?

If the property can be respectably sold for $250 you have to be all in at around $200 including the commission and carry cost.

Some real quick items here:VA Loans are for Primary HomesYou can use VA Loans for 1-4 unit properties (House Hacking)VA Loans have 0% downpayment (most of the time)You can have more than 1 VA loan (some people don't know that)VA Loans do carry a "funding fee" which is like a little "tax" to write the loan, but it is waived if you are a disabled veteran.VA Loans do not have PMI (and that's a huge benefit for us)VA Loans also have a very streamlined refinance feature (called a VA IRRRRL) which makes it super easy to refinance if rates were to fall (hopefully that will occur in the future)VA Loans can also be used by a surviving spouse.The VA may not give us the best health benefits but they can certainly get us into debt!

At the price point you can carry, I would try and go Louisville unless you are going to work in the tertiary markets around Charlotte.