If you included any contact info or encouragement of people contacting you or your agency outside of the marketplace, that is why your post would be removed.

Immediately I’ll paint the outside white with black trim at the suggestion of @jessraden.

I'm thinking there aren't too many of those, but I could be wrong.I just think old-school, like go out and buy your own house, but you will get some outside the box advice too, about partnerships, hacking and many others.

If the next door neighbor is a friend, maybe they could do you a favor and get pictures of him taking it outside on different days?

Just outside of the city is pretty suburban if you're looking into the SFH game. 

Thinking outside the box, I thought it might be interesting to learn how I could partner with someone who has cash, come to an agreement where I find the deal, they fund the purchase, and then I use the financing that I'm already pre-approved for to put a mortgage on the property and compensate my partner in some form. 

Your loan officer and agent are going to push you forward because they get a big commission if you go through with the deal.As an outside observer, I wouldn't do the deal based on the numbers you gave.

I would err towards Waterford, Mystic, Ledyard or Pawcatuk and outside of New London- unless you get something near the colleges. 

Outside of my real estate, I still have an IRA and a regular stock brokerage so I have some exposure to the stock market.

I want others to know my vison and plan on sharing with a good chunk of people outside my work environment.