Having a mortgage and your normal STR insurance is already 2 levels of protection. 

IF that is the case full stop - yes you are paying for something called insurance but if you have a claim the company has the right to pretty much deny coverage for having the wrong type of policy.Landlord policies are higher cost but for a reason - there is a different and increased level of risk when the house is not owner occupied.Talk with your agent and get all the details sorted out. 

Level up and run some numbers--maybe a different market will reveal itself. 

Josh Duncan Josh it depends on your comfortability level but I have been taking out 401K loans to fund my real estate and personally I love it. 

They will give it to them and then convince them a 10k course will take them to the next level.

His 40-plus years in real estate speaks for itself, and his unquestionable devotion to providing his expertise, advice, and thoughts here on BP have earned him a level of respect on this site that you apparently are unaware of.He will not condemn anyone simply based off a black and white forum.  

That level of service requires a professional commitment, which is why agency agreements are necessary. 

The great thing about living in a high cost of living area is that your salary / wages are hopefully also very high.If you are a new college grad, I would focus the next 1-3 years on increasing your salary as much as possible(gain new skills, new certifications, change employers, etc).Once you make more money, you can easily get in a position to buy a property on a more frequent basis.Best of luck!

Your main concern should be whether these bedrooms and bathrooms on the lower level are legal and have the proper egress require for fire code and livability.

At a county level will be an uphill battle imo, but I'm not a local so I'm going off what is out there in the public docs.But really think Black Mountain will be the right place for what we are trying to do.