Hope you all are safe.

However, when it comes  to all the red-tape involved with retirement accounts, better safe than sorry is the best motto.So the moral of the story is to ensure that you don't eat up 90% of your IRA funds on a down payment and closing costs.

My goal was to avoid - - "a fool & his money are soon parted".REI is not the playground to 'learn as you go'.

And just for your own calculations it's safe to estimate mortgage rates a little higher than standard rates.

This would be for one personal residence though if we live through the process, have a great result  and learn a ton from it I can definitely see dipping a toe into Jay's big land development playground.

Must be safe convenient neighborhoods, good buildings with amenities, parking.

There are several of us on here and we can all handle in all 50 states as I can safely say we all handle Texas as I know I do quite a bit of work there. 

Here's where I think there is a work around: if you do a ton of research and find what homes have sold for in a desirable area 10, 20, 30 years ago and see that the value has consistently appreciated then it's probably safe to say it will continue to go up.

How much over that can I go and still be safe?

Finding a good renter who likes condo living seems like a relatively safe bet...if the positive cash flow is not eaten away by capital expenditures, lack of reserves, and routine maintenance on big ticket items.