Costs depends.

Also, a small claim might be possible to file in small claims court without a lawyer depending on how small claims work in that state.Also, why would a lawyer care about the amount of damages?

You forgot about property taxes.  

Based on conversations, CRE could be a great option long term but I may be locked into a lower income in the short term and the potential for earnings are more dependent on my production in the residential space.

.• Both sales either meet the Eligibility Test or qualify forpartial tax benefits, as described earlier.Also, if your sale of vacant land meets all these requirements, you must treat that sale and the sale of your homeas a single transaction for tax purposes

A lot of them have pre payment penalties, significant points, of course interest only etc.     

A lot of this also depends on which platform your area is the strongest in.

DYOR on property taxes in SC.

And it also depends on whether you are disabled or not.If you are just buying a home to live in and not invest, then I believe it's best to put at least 5% down if you can, since you won't need to save money for future down payments.As a general rule, as an investor, cash is king.

I am not saying I agree with that percentage as it depends on the underwriting of the deal.