Are you looking to be in the Gatlinburg area because you want to stay there or is it going to be purely investment? 

Plumbing materials vary depending on different parts of the country, but *in general* (I worked as a plumber in college and of course have many years of old rental experience) your plumbing materials are going to look like this:Drinking water: Before 1960: galvanized steel (most people didn't have running water in a house old enough to use pure lead).

It's a pretty straightforward concept.What you're measuring is how much of your own cash (which could be used for anything) has gone into a project, and what pure cash return you're getting on that cash investment.If you think about it, you could do a lot of things with your own cash money.

That is the pure reality of our industry.

As I was looking on loopnet for pure commercial I have been noticing that there seem to be a much larger number of car washes for sale than any other type of commercial property in most cities I'm looking.

Purely about guidelines and risk.Some lenders are starting to offer them again, but it purely comes down to how much risk they are willing to take.1099 income is traditionally not as stable as W2 income.

Are you going to live there or pure investment?

If you are trying to find deals purely for yourself, then I'm sure the other advice on the thread is good. 

I was thinking about also exploring a DSCR loan to purchase purely an investment property - do you have any thoughts on that?

It makes things easier, if it is going well, but also more likely to cut your finger off (using table saw versus hand saw analogy here) if you are not careful.If it is purely used to consume more, then it is bad.