The alternative is to have the title under a business partner, either a friend or family member, to keep things legal (mortgage will likely be under my name).Worst case I stay at the Marriott and keep the MFH as a pure rental but that extra $2900/month going towards the property during the months I’m TDY would be nice.I’ll discuss with my local Finance office as well but just wanted to see if anyone has had similar experiences. 

So now we have it, a nation of batteries whose sole mission in life is to make money for other people, and that's why rent control legislation and other measure to curb the greed and cupidity of landlords who can't help themselves from "maximizing their income per tenant" are going in everywhere.

Speaking purely on what kind of real estate vehicle I'm most interested in doing; my dream scenario is to buy apartment complexes and own the property management company that runs them. 

Being an owner occupant puts you at an advantage over a pure investor.  

Tricky or not I feel like its the fastest way into a property because I wont have 20 percent down for quite sometime.Something else to consider is that a pure FHA loan may have some requirements on the condition of the property.

Marc, typically this is just pure networking and getting recommendations locally. 

I certainly will not be offering asking price.I'm interested in this for two reasons;First and foremost if I can get a lower offer accepted, I can make this profitable (I have a few commercial property management teams in mind.)secondly, from a purely academic standpoint, this will be my first commercial building that I get to practice how to valuate commercial real estate, learning new things (such as the issues that come up with a gas station), and connecting with new people in commercial real estate!

I don't know what the cost would be, or how many you would need in each apartment, so it may be untenable purely from a cost perspective.

We just pivoted last year from single family flips to purely syndicating across the Southeast.

It may be the most common professional background I meet (among non-pure play real estate folks).