Quote from @Melody Bohannon: Prior to my investment, I asked my advisor, Mark Zabilowicz,  multiple times about the holding period and was consistently assured that I could request the return after six months.

Period, end of story. 

For me rent is due on the 1st with a 5 day grace period.

Perhaps....but   the person relocating to any given market and who has to make a purchase in a finite period of time is generally the least likely candidate to get a great deal on the purchase, meaning the appreciation is even more important. 

At times, the seller may back out, we may uncover bad things about the property during the due diligence period which will cause us to back out of the deal, or financing may fall through.What makes it even worse, we, as investors, may incur some soft costs (costs incurred prior to closing) which end up being sunk costs.However, as investors, we are relentless in our pursuit of cash-flow.

I just wanna make sure, the 10+ years lock-in period is making me a bit anxious.  

As an agent that works with OOS investors frequently I prefer they come into town at least during the inspection period.

Run the calculations on the expense of doing a refi at a slightly reduced rate vs. keeping the current loan for whatever period of time you think you will hold this house.

His bank was in a state like Indiana, while one of his companies is in Wyoming, and just all sorts of weird sketchy stuff that accumulated over the period working with him.

The shaded regions represent periods of QE (QE1, QE2, and QE3), during which interest rates generally declined or remained low.