I think narrowing to five national markets is essential as a good market can make a deal over a 5 (or greater) year period.3.

Looking at a couple of cities in the Midwest but haven't quite narrowed it down. 

I’ve been reading everything on BP. I have two properties in Utah one vacation and one commercial. I’m looking to get into multi family. Originally I was set on Texas as I’ve spent a lot of time there and after findin...

Takes a bit to get use to how to narrow down lists but it has saved us thousands on getting custom lists

I'd also narrow your search by finding someone who also does real estate investing.

This is highly valuable stuff if you scale into larger multifamily properties, but can also be a great way to gain a deeper understanding of a city as you try to narrow down prospective neighborhoods for a house hack. https://www.udemy.com/course/realfocus/learn/lecture/12998740?

My advice would be to narrow your focus. 

We hardly drive in the valley, and when we do we park in narrow spots next to people who don’t mind hitting your car with their door. 

What is the risk, if any, with a Certificate of Occupancy due to the narrow hallways and stacked items?

I am not sure about 403(b) but 401(k) and 457(b) have the option to let you borrow money out of your account up to $50k or half of your vested account (which ever is less).You usually have a 5 years repayment plan (or sometime 10 years for some very narrow loan purposes).If a loan is offered by your custodian, usually you can get a check in a few days and they may charge a small administrative fee.The interest rate is usually a little bit above prime.The interest paid is going back to your retirement account.Now on the negative side:To get the loan out, you will have to sell some of your retirement asset to get liquidity.During the time of the loan, your retirement account will grow slower as there would be less money in it.If you separate from your employer you will have to repay the balance of the loan immediately.