Thanks Account Closed, what kind of company typically does these types of inspections?

Property one, shouldn't be a problem if you have enough income but once you start looking at the second property it might put your over this threshold and cause you to no longer be approved for another mortgage unless you used a hard money lender of some kind.

I am usually a great judge of character :) Thank you for the kinds words!

@Bryson Pennock, what kind of new investment you are planning?

That said, I'm sure there are investors that invest in war zones (although it's not clear to me that's the kind of area you're talking about), but I don't really know any here, and it's not a market I want to work.

@Patrick Philip,Well, banks are "flush with cash" these days, but no, they do not have unlimited funds.Also, when banks lend, they impose certain restrictions on the loans, the borrower, the collateral, the terms of the loan, etc. so the note can be sold in the secondary market or be insured by government-sponsored agencies like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc.Private lenders ("OPM") typically don't write loans to sell them, and typically are interested in the deal rather than the borrower's details.Using OPM down usually means putting some kind of partnership, joint venture, etc. together so the source of the down payment is less of an issue or a non-issue to  the lender(s).Dunno if that helps...

I'm kind of in the same boat as you except I'm planning for college from my 8 month-old.

There are also sandwich lease option deals (a "hard lease option" that grants you the right to sublease), MLO (master lease option), and TIC agreements (tenants in common).

What kind of commercial are you involved in?

Have you decided or done research into what kind of real estate portfolio you'd like to build; SFH, small multis, commercial/mixed use or apartments?