Hi All, One of the main reasons that I began my venture in to real estate investing is to accelerate our family's plan to purchase property in Ireland to be closer to friends.

Quote from @Anthony Colachicco: You can get an owner-occupied FHA loan with 5% down for up to four units.

The warrantability will come up more on the back end when it comes to refinancing or selling and the rehab aspect will impact you more immediately as it may cause you to adjust some of the work that you're looking to do on the property.

I recommend that you build trust with local contractors first and starting with properties that are move-in ready or just need a little cosmetic touch-up.

She stood us up on the initial meeting. 

The defaults start jumping up once you get under 600.https://askwonder.com/research/credit-scores-correlation-loa...If you do decide to take a lower credit score, make sure they are providing a larger deposit.

But wanted to add that you may want to consider a consultation with an attorney or even your liability insurance company to discuss best ways to handle this up front to avoid mis-steps in communication with the tenants, neighbors, media etc.

As to reason, there is not one specific reason, I just described one.

, any personal items to be removed/locked up etc? 

I've considered doing Tiny Houses for the same reason.