They don't seem to care about their customers and the tax department is the worst.

I dont know the market in Las Craces.....but in the DC area, we definitely have a seasonal adjustment on sales, and if the property was here, it would have been listed at the worst possible time. 

The unknown is always the worst and now knowing what to anticipate from all sides (fema, insurance, SBA, damage, cleanup, repairs and rebuilding, etc.) makes every future storm a little more tolerable.Part of it just comes down to the price we are willing to pay to live in such an amazing area.

The worst lenders I have dealt with are the ones with underwriters in one time zone and origination department in another, branch manager in another that don’t communicate well with each other and end up over-promising while not being able to deliver.

The trade-off is losing out on potential growth from a reinvested 1031 exchange, but if you’re thinking about a HELOC later to invest again, this could bridge the gap.What I’d do in your shoes:If it were me, I’d run the numbers on a worst-case scenario for each option.

Perhaps I make 5-10% if forced to sell if I’m lucky, break even at worst.2) I’m VERY glad I chose to invest in my local market (and not OOS), because I know which neighborhoods to buy in, and I also can self manage, which saves a ton of money and I am able to develop local connections, which helps me buy at a discount.

House hacking still definitely works, just got to get a little more creative, maybe be willing to do some work (go find the worst house in the best neighborhood kind of thing).

Worst case scenario, we sell the seasoned, performing note at a discount.

In my book (not yet written, in case you ask), this is the worst kind of advice.

The fact that you have made such good time on the rehab of this one means that you will not be able to refinance on its new value until you have owned it for 12 months, otherwise they will go off of the 'value' that you bought it at.Whereas if you refinanced it into a 30 year DSCR loan, you would likely be good right now, or worst case most are good at about 90 days.