The Canadian Dollar was at parity with the US dollar and I had no competition.

Purchase price: $600,000 Cash invested: $600,000 Small Strip Mall diagonally opposite Gardner Webb University, 1 hour from Charlotte, NC.

So in a way, at first glance you are right by saying that cheaper properties in the midwest lowers your risk...but not necessarily.For example, if you house-hack and put down 3.5% of $550,000 - that's about $20,000.If you buy a $100,000 house in the midwest, you need to put down 20% - so that's $20,000 also so there's risk parity from that standpoint.Hope this helps 

The pattern of the layout of the tile straight vs diagonal.  

Fortunately they do and then some.Solar reached "grid parity" across the USA generally about three years ago with fossil fuel power.

Once the refi process is finalized should I expect there to be parity between the improved value figure that the lender assigns and the improved value figure that my county auditor assigns? 

Chris with your first picture, the 1 x 6 on the diagonal is your sub-floor, then the oak is on top of that. you can just screw the cement board to the oak floor but the thinset as i said helps to support the 1/4" cement board because it is thin and will follow any bumps in the floor, the thinset helps to level it off a little.

I am also trying to figure out if I can fit a dishwasher diagonally in the corner next to the stove.

And diagonal cracks on blocks (like a stair case) coming from the bottom of the pier?  

Mortgage rates are still very low, unemployment is below parity in our city, and vacancy rates are still very low.