Don't stare yourself blind at whether this is a stellar deal from a pure investment standpoint.  

It too has its place.The lenders among us should be able to chime in with far more detailed answers, but in broad strokes: conventional will almost always be better for single family properties and properties with higher down-payments, where's FHA is useful for low down-payment purchases on larger multi-family properties, especially if your credit is less than stellar. 

Buy and hold really isn't what I am looking for unless there is stellar seller financing in place or we can negotiate seller financing.

But the crux of this is that you’d better have a stellar track record.

My credit is stellar but unemployed, my wifes is ok 650 or so...she makes about $1200 mth.We would like to sell the larger house and purchase either a duplex or a house for worth about 60k putting about 30k down so we only have a 30k mortgage.We want to keep the rental if possible.

The anecdotal research seems less than stellar, but since my local parish (county) insists on using CivicSource for this next round of sales I'm hoping one of you can give me some tips and tricks, thanks! 

At least being new, I know there are some that buy sight unseen, but I am sure they have their "Stellar" team in place, and many Boots on the Ground.

I had lunch with him just to make sure I liked his business model enough and he is going to be stellar!

Sellers want to maximize cash, but don't worry if you don't get the property.The good news is, you're in a tremendous market with stellar opportunities.

Bob,One property is in an stellar location and its really easy to rent.