I lived in that house as my primary residence for 15 years.  

I think I pay about 300 a year for my own residence.

Everyone has different risk tolerance when investing but given that you are taking equity out of your primary residence extra caution is warranted.Hard money lenders are also an option but in that case the deal would need to be good enough to warrant the very high cost of capital.Best of luck.

If you're talking owner occupied, meaning you're going to live there, it seems like choosing between those two areas is the primary consideration, then once you've picked that market you can dive down to consider specific properties.For your own personal residence, usually other life factors such as proximity to your place of employment and family considerations (spouse/partner, children, parents/extended family) are even more important than real estate investment.

I’m a little skeptical due to placing my primary residence on any kind of chopping block.

Here a 3rd party that doesn't benefit either way that is over 18 and a resident can serve , then I send via mail. 

Usually the advice on a personal residence is to choose whichver best meets your needs and desires...life is short.

iirc there's a minimum time on VA loan you have to reside first, anyway, then buy a 2-4 unit on a new VA loan and move into one of the units. 

Primary residence is your best financing.

@kyle  If this was your primary residence,You might actually not even have to pay any long term capital gain too.