I would buy 20% down owner occupant and then rent it out after a year. 3/4 unit is preferred but if your area very expensive and run numbers carefully I have found low rise condos to also work *no elevators, no front desk people so assesments low. 

I expect the market to be forced to agree that the federal funds rate will remain elevated, north of 5%, for some time to come.

Hello Morten, My wife and I run an interior design studio and hospitality consultancy based out of LA—and we specialize in helping property owners/investors design/develop elevated, high margin, short term rental properties pre or post acquisition.

Not only does that $509 cover maintenance of the pools, elevators, common areas and landscaping, but it also covers electricity within the unit, cable TV and internet, water/sewer, and trash. 

Even if they were serious, what they will do is provide a LOI (letter of intent) at 100% financing on Day 1 of the loan process and they when you get close to the funding date, usually 3 business days before, they will switch terms/pricing to more realistic terms around 75-80% but still charge the elevated fees as if you were getting 100% financing. 

I own 2- 4 bed/4 bath homes in ocean lakes, myrtle beach sc. purchase on one was 295k in covid, the other was $375k with elevator- stole them both and we average 72k per house on those.100k on 500k is doable in the right area.We love ocean lakes as it is on leased land but zoning will never disallow str. 

The presence of wetlands or flood zones isn't necessarily a problem for building, especially if it is just 10-20% or so of the acreage, but you will have to understand where these areas are and the regulations associated with them, such as how far away or what elevation you will need to build.

The current base flood level elevation is 14 ft.

Over 4 stories add an elevator.

Although there might be some merit towards being active now just in the "slower" part of the real estate activity calendar (Winter) than summer which is more likely to be elevated from a price standpoint