To qualify for a loan, focus on having a credit score of at least 620 (or 580 for FHA loans), keeping your total monthly debt under 43% of your income, and saving enough for a down payment and closing costs—about 5-10% of the home's price in total.

You have to weigh the benefit of the insurance claim payment versus potentially having your carrier cancel you and perhaps get black-balled by the insurance industry.

@Isaac Hanai make sure you FULLY understand the negatives of S8 programs, not just the mirage of consistent government rent payments.

Best practice is to keep one or two payments in reserve from the buyers down payment for such instances.

@Jordyn Ohsnot enough info to helpbut if you're using a HELOC for the down payment AND getting a loan, then you're probably negative cash flow given that's 100% leveragei would never do that unless i were going to refinance in the short term

Rentals also build equity through tenant payments and appreciation, with profits taxed at lower long-term capital gains rates when sold.

They have decent rental markets, and there are options where you could get in with a 20% down payment.

Tenants in lower Classes will have lower credit scores, which means higher chance of defaulting on their lease payments.

If it doesn't, can you still make the payments?  

The appraisal district shortly thereafter corrected the tax allotment “anomaly” between the two lots, but the investor never made a tax payment and eventually lost the lot to a tax foreclosure.