Am I overbudgeting in the expense areas I mention above?

Which reminds me that I should mention that I’m not opposed to living a not-so-luxurious lifestyle in the short run.

I also notice that @Gregory Schwartz mentioned Huntsville in particular—I definitely think that it’s a strong market for long-term appreciation.As for your concerns about investing out of state, I think an investment strategy that is as close to passive as possible would be best.A do-it-yourself approach—where you acquire a property, place a tenant, interview a bunch of property managers, and handle maintenance yourself—is going to be pretty tough to do remotely.

You can find a bunch of lists that mention top amenities such as hot tub, sauna, etc.

I heard you mention that you worry about Tenant placement after the medical resource you have now dries up. 

Like the others mentioned, either 3.5% down if you intend to live in it.

Cost $500 per mailing and my timeI paid to have 10,000 post card mailers sent out by a company, took a month for them to go out after they designed and submitted the order - 5 unproductive calls - Cost (Too embarrassing to mention) Didn't receive feedback which address were no goodI paid to have advertising inserts I designed into the weekly coupon mailer.

Another poster mentioned seeking seller finance with 3% interest, if the numbers work, make the offer.

Either way if it helps someone out especially going through what he mentioned it may add some gratitude and help him avoid further late bills.You can get more bee's with honey so in some cases it can pay off being a little more lenient. 

As mentioned 90 day limit, which makes it difficult, and wuite pricy to get the STR certificate from the city.