I have to use my insurance broker and get insurance through foremost, American modern, etc.  

Your responsibility if you want to avoid all tax would be to purchase at least $150K using $50K of proceeds.If you want to combine multiple properties it is their aggregate value that will matter. 

  $ wise, it will be the least expensive (interest rate) to refinance my primary home to a 30 year mortgage, with enough cash out to payoff the rental property.That would change my total combined payment (including taxes and insurance for both properties) to $1300ish, giving me $380 more per month.Dollarwise that makes sense in an instant. 

Lenders who want to limit their exposure may agree to a "Combined Loan to Value" guideline that supports a seller second."

That's definitely a combination of things like how we conduct our marketing of available properties, stringent tenant screening, as well as the current market. 

If you're buying for long term buy and hold, you need to be looking at market that not only cash flow well but have good economic and demographic trends with modern, diverse economies.

The combination of cash flow and strong future appreciation made this a perfect fit for a buy and hold strategy.

Building furniture and a photography business may be a good combination.

New construction gave us a modern design and we would ideally not have any major repairs for 10 years or so.

It would have to be two deals unless they are willing to combine the lots.New construction loans are pretty dificil to come by during covid but for the right deal, everybody will want a piece.