Such as settling or certain areas that flood often.

I am looking to buy in an area that I would eventually want to settle in and collect rent for a few years to help pay my mortgage and if I want to, eventually take over the whole home as my family home in the future. 

We settled 10/25, moved 10/29.

When you say pay off the plan early, do you mean pay off the remaining payment plan balance or the whole debt amount before the settled to be paid amount?

Not to mention, I find it much easier to negotiate contingencies, extended settlements to sort out zoning or other items and even settle with permits in hand with MLS listed properties which is undervalued by most but can greatly reduce your transactional costs and open the door to better financing options. 

However, if you are settling in with a few investment properties, you could go the umbrella policy route. 

I feel you mate,Always loved overlooked tertiary markets.That's how I settled on Toledo in 2014.Funny story, folks would always ask me "What is an Aussie from Sydney, Australia doing in Toledo, Ohio"I'd always reply "Because of the beautiful weather and the beaches" heheMuch success 👍

Because I was willing to walk away from the deal and had no emotional attachment to the house, I went back and forth on the price settling at 10% below their lowered price which was a total of 15% below the original asking price of $1,099,000.

2-3 years ago, everyone was coming out of Covid quarantine and they were spending money on anything vacation wise. numbers now are settling back to normal, but prices on properties havent rightsized yet

It took us 2-3 years to settle on a solid budget.