I think it’s a more recent consideration (maybe in the past decade or so based on my digging / anecdotal feedback) and perhaps some of you that have been in the business longer and simply renewing old policies may be getting a pass.  

Ok yeah we are thinking of getting an investment property loan so we can stay in our current home.If we did the FHA route we are considering on living in the new property for 1 year and then moving back into our old one after the year is up.We are curious if we would get a more favorable rate if we borrowed from our home equity to buy the investment property.Do you have any idea if many investors borrow from their home equity to get started?  

Raleigh/Cary is definitely competitive..it's a booming market, but your $30K in cash gives you some solid options, especially for a BRRRR strategy.If you're looking for slightly lower-cost entry points, here are a few markets to consider:Greensboro, NC: Staying within your home state, Greensboro offers a more affordable market compared to Raleigh.

Once you have completed the consolidation portion of your 1031 exchange you now own a more expensive (and probably really nice) property that it must be your intent to hold for investment use. 

(Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigian).Pick a more rural town/city, they are typically very safe.

Several of the contractors offer helical piers but don’t seem to think they’d be a more cost effective option - we can directly ask about this again.  

Legitimate lenders may charge a small application fee (around $250) to verify you’re serious, but if someone’s asking for thousands with no real intention of closing, that’s a huge red flag.On a more positive note, there are creative financing approaches out there.

Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss.2.

When you have things that you do not know how bad they are until you open up pandora's box, it is hard to perfectly predict the cost.I'd be happy to have a more in-depth conversation if interested. 

Knowledge and use of this information should help you to make a more realistic cost estimates for your models.