•What challenges or surprises should I expect?

So there is huge risk expecting the 15 year limit to be reality.  

If you want to be completely self-sufficient, you're willing to build an Earthbag home or another building that can be earthquake proofed but can still be run without public utilities, you can spend a ton of money on a well and can have that well water processed to remove contaminated mine crap, you have a great off-road vehicle and you can figure out how to deal with the flooding without redirecting that water onto someone else's land then you can definitely live there.If it's an Investment you're after, give that up.

I get excited when new investors finally figure this out because their first deal then becomes a matter of when.

I don’t expect to have much maintenance with it for a while since most everything will be new.

More importantly, figure out how to significantly increase active income.

Currently I have about $1M sunk into a previous business venture, so I expected I would have to pull some equity out but wanted to explore all options first. 

Not sure the final outcome, but I'm guessing that is a case where you think things are risk free, but I expect the purchaser was out significant legal fees that were not reimbursed and ended up not getting the property.I've always thought about this in the rare instance that a super nice and super valuable property goes to sale with a mortgage on it. 

. - The appointment was generally about going over questions, but also another part of figuring out my investment appetite.

1) cannot qualify for traditional financing2) fears appraisal will come in low3) fears buyer will back out so reduces contingency optionsnote for cash purchase I expect a significant discount.