If your asset is older and/or smaller, you may have better luck with local community banks or credit unions.

If the property were owner-occupied, would I only receive credit for one rental unit's income, while the non-conforming basement income wouldn't count?

@Hank Bank BRRRR is probably want you want to do.Buy, Renovate, Rent, Refi, Repeat.Before you go all in and either find out you don't like being a landlord or you make costly mistakes, start with just the next one.You'll have some challenges with tapping the equity in the townhouse:1) What loan amount can you qualify with your credit & income?

The better the rates, lenders generally want to see more experience, higher credit, occupancy and DSCR requirements. 

House hacking seems like the best strategy for me.My goal is to purchase a single-family home in Maryland, D.C, (from lurking I've heard D.C was terrible for investing) or Virginia with multiple rooms where I'm making monthly payments similar to what I pay in rent and other charges ($2000-$2500).

For example, you are not allowed to co-mingle personal funds with plan funds or work on the property yourself.I think that cashing out an IRA to buy rentals is not a terrible idea if you can get decent returns in your market.

I would like to do some research on other rental properties before I set my priceComputer algorithms are good for studying a general market, maybe even a neighborhood, but they are terrible for evaluating a specific rental.

It was a terrible feeling and I considered giving up completely.

However, you can claim a tax credit on your California return for taxes paid to Oregon, mitigating double taxation.If you only plan to own this one property, consider using umbrella insurance as an alternative to an LLC.

But they were selling an expensive house in California and had horrible credit.