My personal home is at 1800 feet elevation and on spetic tank.

I love working with Elevations Credit Union, but you have to get the right loan officer.  

I try to avoid buildings with lots of expensive moving parts like multiple elevators, antiquated boiler systems, or lots of deferred maintenance.  

Talk to the people you run into in the elevator.  

I'm with Andrew on this one... smaller towns while offering great cash flow potential can get crushed by movement of big employers so be sure to heavily research the economy of the town as a whole when looking in more rural areas... usually something like a regional commercial airport or a big hospital can elevate worries on topics like this as larger infrastructural investments from both companies and the government can alleviate some of the risk in theory.

It does have a slightly newer elevation that is attractive.

Matt's comments about the house being on a higher elevation in the street is a good point.

We didn't have an elevator or any type of grass or yard.  

I wouldn't elevate it & probably just not interact with that neighbor. 

I got a quote for a survey to get a flood elevation certificate but its $400... not sure if thats worth it yet.