Thanks @Josh Compton.I am looking in western NC, right near the TN border.

Can some local Western North Carolina (Asheville, Greenville, etc) investors please recommend some investor friendly lenders?

In western Pennsylvania, upstate New York, and Rhode Island, the three places that I've lived in the USA, I've never seen a breaker box outside.

It seems like we go up against Western Wealth Capital quite often, Janet LePage.

You are more likely to find success in big coastal cities in the western world.

THEN they can join my Western worldwide 'franchise?'

The lakeshore area of western Michigan is a great STR market!

I'm still looking for my first purchase in the western suburbs of Chicago but finding a lot of markets are fairly cost prohibitive (at least for a first purchase).

Upon hearing his words, I jumped on the web to find the property, and sure enough, it was just as he said.The property is on 10 acres just outside of a small town in western North Dakota, just 20 minutes north of my current residence.  

Very interesting work done by Thriving Communities Institute program of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy that provided a report card grade of A-F for each home in Cleveland.