My Husband and I are looking to buy a home in the under $400,000 range (ideally something that we can rehab and house hack).

Developers and construction companies have adapted their strategies (Build for Rent), embracing innovation (light gauge steel construction) and diversification (new product types) to meet changing consumer needs and market demands.

Define, "investor-friendly" agent please.In our experience we've found that +95% of agents only have experience dealing with owner-occupied transactions - which are mostly EMOTIONAL decision based.You can ID these types of agents easily by asking them:1) If they are RE investors themselves.

And if a company needs to resort to hiring him to market their props that means those props are not very good or poor investments  There are other ways to deal with the Clayton Morris types.

We sat down and traced out a plan (i.e. paying down debt, increasing their FICO scores, saving for a down payment, type of home) and in both cases, they were ready to buy in less than a year's time. 

What property types are there in the Catskills, mostly single families, multi or other types?

I know it may be ideal to focus on Central California since I'm about a 2.5 hour drive from there, but the landlord friendly laws of other states entice me and I get concerned if I buy in California I'll end up getting a bad tenant without the ability to easily get them to leave. 

I recognize we will not be able to offset active W2 income,  but if we do purchase an investment property that has some net positive cashflow, what are the types of tax benefits/offsets we can get? 

I'm looking for two types of people to talk to (anonymously is fine).

At a very high level a property has a “tax basis”, once you exceed that basis you are subject to taxes, whether that happens when sold and paid in full or paid over timeThe loan provided by seller financing is like any type of loan where the interest is taxed at ordinary income rates.