Like I said- just another issue to help you make up your mind.

Given the location and how the town has been developing it seems like a good investment opportunity for rentals.

@Micah Huffman unless you are going to commit to learning some basics about being a landlord AND are willing to commit at least 2-4 hours each month managing a Property Management Company - it's probably best you sell.Otherwise, it's highly likely you could lose more due to bad tenants and management.

You want to talk to friends and family on this, I don't know anyone who would see this on the Internet and be like, yeah, this sounds like exactly what I am looking to do with my money.

Seems like the Roth is the way to go - I want to choose the right partner!

The last deal I did like this, I bought a $145K home with about $10,000 out of pocket for repairs & closing costs

Quote from @Mitchel Quinn: My name is Mitchel Quinn and I would like to get a good foothold in the door of real estate to get on the right path and stay there.

I was playing with the idea of selling my condo, taking 300k of the equity to put a down payment towards a house listed at 660k.I'm assuming the reno will run $300/sqft and going in with the assumption that phase 1 will run 750k (figure the expansion of the house will have to wait) for the gut reno.I assume/hope (but definitely not banking on) that I will be able to refi in 2-3 years at a lower interest rate; if not for a lower rate.This will likely be a family home for the next 5-10 years at LEAST so investment value isn't quite at top of mind ATM.Questions:Even if it's not for lower interest rate, do you feel it's advisable to refi to remove the 203 loan in the future?

I've worked with some Canadians buying  here in Ohio.Indeed, rather than selling your stocks to fund investments (and lose out on any potential price appreciation and dividend payments, as well as incurring capital gains taxes), a nice alternative is to borrow against some percentage of the holdings.You would start with the brokerage where you hold the stocks and see what their loan program looks like for the account you hold. 

Like 5 people where like "call your attorney" I was like uhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you knock on his door yet?