Hey Meghan, I'm a local investor friendly agent.

Contact my friends at HomeHop Property Management. www.homehoppm.comTalk to Dan, they have a in house designer, who you can hire. 

By February, the median home value dropped 20 percent, bringing the price down to $560,000.TKL found there are now nearly 8,000 homes listed for sale in the Washington, DC metro area, and almost half of them have been put on the market in the last 30 days.The tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service is preparing to fire thousands of workers next week"***************************************************************************Comment: Save The IRS  - said no one, everIn the last year of our marriage my ex wife spent $150,000 on clothes.

My plan is to rent it on a short term rental basis and stay for few weeks in a year with family/friends. 

Instead of stressing over timing it perfectly, focus on making sure the deal still works even if rates shift.Since you’re buying in Norfolk, check if lenders there offer any investor-friendly incentives.

Once you feel comfortable in running your numbers, figure out a good market that has good population & economic growth and landlord friendly laws.

Maybe a family member or close friend?

Have recently started a renovation company with a friend, both of us successful business owners and talented in the trades.

So I had a solid enough down payment that I thought, why not go out of state where it's cheaper, where I have friends who've been successful and can get more bang for my buck?

I’ve been around real estate for decades, and I read in The Economist once that in lively markets like Charlotte, folks will pay a premium for a comfortable room if you’re near major employers.A friend of mine tried something similar out in Austin a while back.. he’d inherited a 4-bedroom property and split it into individual room rentals.