Conventional loan, 20% down non-owner occupied.

You either need to pile up more cash or give up some comfort via owner occupied investment options.

Nashville, Dallas, etc etc)Yeah, I know states like Florida and Arizona have prohibited local municipalities from restricting non-owner occupied STRs.

@Nicholas A. your shotgun approach has a high probability of getting the exact quality you put into it.95%+ of real estate agent, many of them posting they are "investor-friendly", only know how to deal with owner-occupied transactions. 

Unfortunately due to the business you choose to operate incidents like the one you experienced are more likely to occur compared to a property that's continually occupied by a tenant where the water would more likely be run at a higher frequency which would prevent the pipes from freezing.  

With an owner-occupied loan, you can buy a house with 0-5% down and get 30-year fixed rate financing so you're not dealing with adjustable rates if rates go back up and not dealing with a balloon payment in 6-24 months which is plenty of time for an experienced investor but not a whole lot if you're new. 

As discussed the property at the time of closing was occupied.

Many states have discounted property taxes and lower yearly increases for owner occupied properties.

They seem rarely occupied to me. 

Purchase price: $185,000 Cash invested: $5,000 Sale price: $220,000 Occupied by my in-laws.