I asked for the video, it couldn't be produced. 

The list produced and updated to excel provided towns 3 counties south of me, none of which were towns I selected. 

If I can produce a little cash flow while doing so, its a win.

I talked to an agent that told me that if I wanted a 2-unit residential property, an FHA loan may not work because the 2nd unit will be "income producing". 

Honestly i have no clue which angle he was ultimately trying to go at, but it sounded like he works with a lot of investors who own real estate that produce more deductions than they have in income to claim on taxes, the point he kept repeating was that you can calculate how much income on a property could maximize the usage of all your deductions, then either pay down to this point and maintain it, or refinance the property in a shorter mortgage to gain income and bring the level back up to this level every so many year or after paying it off. 

It is now producing great cash flow, and it should gross around 32-35k on the full first year.Lessons learned?

So, all that to say, we are looking for some innovative ways to market and will continue with VRBO, but would also like to open up possibilities for other ways of finding renters.Thanks for weighing in! 

However if these several building purchase is the only one you can find and is income-producing then go for it.  

You will have negative cash flow and will only be able to rely on appreciation to profit....extremely risky.Additionally if plan A is a serious option for you then you are a very low risk investor and may want to reconsider directly investing in real estate and may be better off putting your money in a REIT.A investor, assuming they have the ability to move, would sell the CA property and move their money to where it can actually produce positive cash flow.

It has wide appeal and will never produce negative comments or reactions from buyers.