For your first project it is nice to be able to see it, talk with all the people involved, know the area, know the schools, know the employers, know the neighborhood, meet your trades, etc. 

I would disagree with number 2 - in this environment, heavy rate buydowns are a common tool in the toolkit for lenders and borrowers to make deals work and are in no way indicative of "not being well-capitalized"

That is fairly common in small town mid-state areas where COVID shot up prices and then fell flat when rates skyrocketed over the last 12-18 months.Mid-Term rentals are always +/- depending on time of year and how the property is marketed.

Would love to hear from other pros.For California investors with out-of-state properties, common asset protection strategies include using separate LLCs per property for liability isolation, though this incurs California's $800 franchise fee per LLC and administrative overhead. 

Since your primary address was the condo as of your last tax return, you could argue that you maintained a primary residence there, even while living abroad.In case if you don't complete the desired period, I guess you will be able to claim partial exclusion as from your question I understand that you left the residence due to employment purpose.

If yes, I can help you from an employment perspective. 

Chances are, a guy who can afford $5K in rent will eventually be employed again and want to deal with that judgment you obtained against him.

Is this common to see?

This is a great website, the only thing that everyone have in common is that everyone invests in real estate.

This is probably the most common reason to arbitrage.