I have to build trench/french drain to divert uphill rain water running into my property to further down away from my property.

Make as much money as you can, live off of nothing, and try to get into a SFH or 2-4 unit house hack as fast as you responsibly can. 

I recommend looking into Columbus OH - lots of population growth, job growth, and major companies building out here like Intel, Meta, Google, Amazon, etc.

Do not be one of the people who wait and hope that rates will continue to fall into next year.

I get that what you have looked into may take a little longer to install but you do it once with a long time in between replacing (hopefully), in my opinion, that's worth it.

Are these inconsistencies breaking the rules?

The other important item to consider is keeping your Credit score above 680, this gives you the opportunity to refinance without tax returns into a 30 year fixed rate Rental Loan, or DSCR Loan. 

I want to see if anyone else on here has invested into the Lehigh Valley (from NYC or anywhere else) whether into residential or commercial and get your take on your experience so far.Looking forward to getting this conversation started.Ray

It can be an easy way to get into investing and solid cash flow and you can accumulate them quickly.

If you were to invest $100K+ of your own money into one property, where would you go?