Of course this all depends on if you are buying locally, right?

Depending on your state, many have local lenders that will go up to 100% LTV. 

I’d love to connect with local investors and agents and, further down the line, with contractors when we’re ready to take the next steps.Looking forward to connecting and learning from everyone here!

I am going to see if I can switch to a local Wisconsin insurance that reflects our local risk level in their premiums.Many of the homes in the Pacific Palisades are 3-5 million, but when you look on Google Street View, most are very modest homes from the 1960s (there are some $20m ultra luxury mansions too), so a lot is the land value, the home replacement value on a 1600sqft may be what - 500k at the most?

We worked with a lawyer over there who is a US ex-pat who created and registered a local LLC for us, which owns our properties.

Glad you have experience investing locally. 

Build a local team of real estate agents, property managers, and CPAs to navigate local laws and manage your property.

I'm a construction management consultant (so similar to engineering) and investor/agent in the Boston area so I get the need to want/need to stay local.

I'm a local Duluth investor, happy to share my experience and can give some recommendations to help build your team.

A buddy of mine who invests out in Phoenix once had a client facing a similar timing mismatch on a rehab project.. they ended up working closely with a local credit union who was more open to interim valuations.