The ONLY reasonable deals are:Appliances when purchased if you have a retailer that offers unlimited repairs/replacement for 5 years for 10% of price.

I think we will see more "adult" families living together...kids move back in or parents move in with kids.The traditional apartment model was based on 12month leases, but jobs are not always 12 months and people want flexible terms, so co-living often offers that.Seems like younger people between 20-30 and some other age groups don't want to get married and start that housing pathway our parents and grandparents took.   

new houses are getting sold for 600K, old houses switched to multiple offer selling model, just like some places in GTA.

From my experience, cities like Greenville, Columbia, Augusta, Huntsville, Chattanooga, and Jacksonville offer strong house-hacking opportunities with growing job markets, solid rental demand, and affordable multi-family options.

In the past 10 years, Ocala has greatly improved the employment base, adding tons of logistics and distribution jobs on top of the medical, service and equestrian jobs that we have always had. 

HELOCs are fine, but keep in mind that you really only want to use 50 percent of less (each) of your available equity just so you aren't creating a problem that you can't solve later if the value of your personal residences fluctuates.If you both have W2 jobs though, have you looked into getting qualified together and just getting a loan, 10 percent down each?

@Tayvion Payton   -  my guess is that you are still too far off the price, at least in the interim but it is always good to put in an offer, because they may come back to you down the road. 

Traditional bank loans can be slow and have strict requirements, while hard money and private lending seem to offer more flexibility.For those who’ve secured funding before, what’s been your experience?

Unfortunately, I’ve run into a major issue: I received a Stop Work Notice on my property in Covington, GA, because I didn’t have the proper permits for the renovations.I want to resolve this as quickly and smoothly as possible without jeopardizing the project.Can anyone offer advice or share their experience with:1.How to address the Stop Work Notice with the local authorities?

My job is to submit bid and negotiate only.