Connect with a lender familiar with your investment strategy to set yourself up for success and continue building your house hack stack.I recently interviewed a local lender to dive deep into these details and talk about all the nuances.

If it is a more recent situation look for the root cause and try to figure it out before you let them go. 

As we have witnessed in the past, specifically the years of 2020-2022, when rates dropped, everyone jumps in to buy a house, which drives up competition, which in turn makes housing prices go WAY UP to the point that people OVERBID on properties.

Back in the 90s when I was in college we were driving through Texas late at night.

Looking at what cities you can get direct flights or day drives will save time in going to view and check on properties.   

It was useful being there and driving the neighborhoods to get a feel for things. 

That's why I would never buy too far out of state where I can't drive by if I need to but that's my perspective.

Can you help me understand what expenses would drive that number up?

Generally speaking, I have not seen underwriters look too deep into occupancy concerns related to second home vs investment property since Fannie/Freddie installed new LLPAs a couple years ago that make the pricing for each aligned in most cases.

Asking if it's a "good" or "bad" time to buy is like JFK asking if this is a good day for a drive.