I really enjoy the downtown area...good beer and coffee spots....very vibrant with lots of visible development. 

Ignore it.Most loan people you find at banks understand only one flavor of mortgage - a mortgage for an owner-occupant. 

If you go down that path, there are many flavors of LLCs depending on where you create your entity.

Weirdest things that I found in those were: a home made long bow, a sex swing along with various flavored lubricants, drugs and associated paraphernalia, a room full (and I mean FULL) of old newspapers and magazines just thrown in and a dead parakeet in a freezer.

We miss vibrant urban activities and we just might want to reserve all our 2021 vacation time to immersing ourselves in urban life again. 

If you force enough appreciation, you could finance out some of the equity you created and use it to buy non-owner occupy rental property with 20-25% down, or sometimes less if you can find a seller who is willing to finance on different terms.That said, there is no reason your flavor of real estate investing needs to mean buying rentals right off the bat.

I think the challenge with this group of investors is they are taught from some guru who makes it sound like buying notes is the equivalent of going to the grocery store and picking an ice cream flavor (readily abundant and cheap).

There’s a few flavors of house hacking, pick one you’re comfortable with.

Starting out small gives you a chance to get a flavor of the real estate investing business, make sure that it's the right path for you, and learn about the industry while still generating a good return.Investing in smaller properties also has another important advantage over investing in large properties - diversification.

The market in Huntsville is healthy, vibrant, and growing.