both have 5yr pre pay penalty. 

Part of this is due to marketing and pre-marketing of the home - an agent is your marketer. 

It's probably going to mean paying points at closing, a high rate, and a serious pre-payment penalty (like 5 years). 

I live in Honolulu currently but used to live in Tokyo (mother is Japanese) and still travel there on a regular basis (pre-Covid).

I’ve taken care of all my debt and am pre-approved for roughly $220,000.

The only reason to look into franchises that flip houses or do renovations pre-sale is because you have existing business that you could leverage on top of this to add more clientele.

Paying off the notes, working to pre-emptively make repairs to capex items before they fail or become a major issue think roof, HVAC, and foundation.

However, pricing in Austin is still substantially above pre-pandemic levels.

A HYSA pays 4.5-5%(before rates went down) pre-tax, 3% net tax if you're a high earner. 

Your goal is to plant the idea in their mind and create a situation where selling to you feels like the easiest and most logical solution for them.If you haven’t already, the first step is to get pre-approved for a mortgage so you know what you could afford if you were to purchase the property conventionally.