Try Debbie Perkins at Farmers, they just got acquired (previously Perpetual) but they used to lend to out of state investors no problem.

Out of five years, you can live for one year, rent for next year, again live for one year and rent for 2 more years.Your primary residence will qualify for $250k ( $500k if Married) gain exclusion if all following requirements are met: You owned a home and used it as your main home during at least 2 of the last 5 years before the date of the sale.You did not claim any exclusion during the last 2 years.You did not acquire the house with Like-Kind exchange during the last five yea 

I'm the co-owner of three SF's in SoCal with some good experience acquiring, financing and managing them for over 10 years. 

TerraNovus Capital acquired this asset midway through a value-add process and immediately mobilized to complete this process.

I own a 100+ old building and there was a lot that needed to be done after I acquired it.

Would it be a good strategy to acquire a smaller residential property/properties to pad my net worth so to speak?

This option is cleaner and you can use whatever money you have to put down and acquire home with some maybe leftover without the hassle of others attached to the title.

If I acquire 1 str in this location, for around $300k, I should be able to get it to a stable net income of $2,500/mth in about 6 months, utilizing a reasonable 10% unleveraged net return, etc).

Can I acquire another property from the proceeds of the townhome?

I'm sure you witnessed for years certain clients building up their portfolios while you continued to provide them with the financing they needed to acquire them.