The conventional loan product can help eliminate sellers concerns while still keeping a low down payment.3) I would just compare your rents versus market rents.

They're offering 3.99% interest rates (covering 6% of the home cost to buy down the rate), $10k in bonus money, plus a fridge, washer, and dryer.Because they can't stop building, they have to offer extremely good incentives to keep the product moving in this buyer's market.

Hey maybe it turns out great, but still no real product years later and now this. 

I have called lenders, and they say either they're renting them out, or they don't have any REO.Since lenders can often be slow to respond, I stopped looking at them. 

I have been involved in litigation in the past when a subcontractor ordered materials from China and the formaldehyde levels in the products were not satisfactory to the buyers of the units when they did their own testing and they filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit. 

At the end of the day if you are going to buy 10,20,50, 100, 500 or more tax sales a year, it is EXTREMELY counter productive and a waste of time to buy 2 or 5 or 10 or 20 from 15+ states.

That mindset can really slow you down.

Does anyone have any feedback or thoughts on which loan product to use? 

I'm definitely the "play it safe" type, which is why the buy-and-hold strategy appeals to me, and because this is all new to me I want to "start off slow", but I am open to hearing thoughts on other options I could consider as well.Put simply, if you were in my shoes, what would you do with that capital and now with one property under your name (if buy-and-hold is the most appealing strategy to you)?

For me it started out being a RE broker and listing other developers product 50 years ago :) so you kind of grow into it..