Eric, your background as a local firefighter at JBLM adds a unique angle to real estate investing.Dave Meyer's strategy book seems valuable, and it's wise to choose your focus area thoughtfully, especially in a competitive market like Seattle/Tacoma.Welcome aboard and best of luck investing!

If my client wants to sell to an owner occupant, usually brings more competition and a higher price, then I ask them to give notice and we’ll list once they’re out as we cannot have tenant holding over and ruining the closing.

I keep about 20-25k in reserves for my properties (I don't keep a reserve per property because I think it would be so rare to have major issues at every property at once - kind of like fractional reserve banking for my property reserves). 

My company does the following:• Free and simple MLO Licensing (22 hours online or in person and you choose your schedule)• Mortgage team to handle the backend (meaning, no structuring, underwriting or processing loans) • Competitive mortgage rates backed a company with 20+ years in the business• Downline revenue stream on the lending side (similar to EXP model.)• They do not have to change brokeragesIn my mind, there aren't many cons to this.

And with rates the way they are going, they are pretty competitive to even the conventional ones.

Wall Street has proven their model of stability in the residential RE market post-crash, and if there is another black swan event like 2008/09 there will be a ridiculous amount of competition from large institutions. 

Do you research first though, as you can find their criteria and proximity to other stores and competition to vet your space against.

Add on top of that others are also trying to find that House Hack and there is competition for properties that meet that criteria. 

The rate of interest on policy loans for large and reputable mutual companies is always going to be competitive relative to commercial or consumer lending.

Overstating the profitability of this endeavor by grossly understating the competitive nature of the bidding, the sophistication of some of the players as to research capabilities, etc.5.