I have been researching tankless heaters, and I'm leaning towards an electric tankless heater to save space and finally be able to wash laundry in-house.

Getting one property and cashflowing it will be a challenge. you can try seller financing but you are still going to be highly levered which just enhances the risk that you are taking on.The best way to grow is to focus on managing your rental, saving money through your W2 and crushing that - if you are a realtor you will make more crushing it as being a realtor than over leveraging real estate - then save for down payment and buy slowly. its not a rush.

Ultimately, a “win-win” keeps your tenant profitable while ensuring you’re not underpricing your asset.As for notice periods, definitely check your local regs, from what I’ve heard.

In fact, a couple of recent studies have shown that working with a broker typically saves about $10,000 on a residential mortgage.

It's the ultimate win/win.

As a one-stop shop for mortgage, real estate, and property management, we save our clients money while streamlining the process.

I ultimately invested $65 cash, $5k in legal fees, and $9.7k in operational expenses while owning the home, and walked away with $17.3k after a judgement.What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The only other option I see is a short sale, if you don't need to purchase for a few years and don't mind a temporary credit hit to save the $60k.  

The landscape is just different than even the last 3 years with people making bad calls but getting saved by significant appreciation. 

The license doesn't cost more, the service and quality does.And a note on that cost, in my experience hiring contractors, only a small percentage of the cost savings was due to finding the right guy who is willing to work for less.