Till doing another deal is like putting on a pair of pants

For purchase mortgages, you can see loan amount and price, which tells you down payment - if you pair this with gov't v conventional, you can sometimes guess about the rest of the person's financial picture.

A letter from you highlighting the positive features of the new home you find attractive (bigger yard for my dog, another bathroom for my teenager, etc), paired with evidence that you did in fact historically owner occupy for a year (old utility bills, old mortgage statements, old paystubs, etc, addressed to your then-current residence work), would make it pretty rock solid, but this is still ultimately an underwriter judgement call.Because preapprovals are not property specific, they can never incorporate this, so it's on you to set yourself up for success on this front.

They are a great pair for the podcast. 

Prop 13 paired with fixed rate financing generally means that eventually all real estate in California will be cashflow positive (unless the town gets Detroit'd), so you live there and improve/enjoy the property until that happens, at which point you "nomad" your way into the next home, building up a happy little empire that you can pass onto your children (along with your Prop 13 tax basis) along the way.

Pair up with an investor to get money to fix up the place a few months prior to moving out.

That said, two days ago I had lunch with a pair of investors who claimed to be moving 20-25 townhouse flips per year + some other stuff.

There are various roles in the industry where you current skills can be used paired with what you will learn on the job.

Potentially a pair of 175K SFHs or maybe a duplex.

It's very fun, and I learned the most from the hands on activities...The instructor pairs you up with a partner, and hands you both a sheet of paper.