I mark 1 both, not cash, and put in remarks "contingent appraisal and approval of finds per hard money lender" to avoid risk of earnest...I have due diligence period for 10 days anyway and my lender is way less that that, so i would not risk my earnest money for the most part...and I want to put in "cash" offer....wondering if I could do both boxes, or if matters..what do you do?

Stay out of debt (completely out of debt)Get your degree (While on active duty it's free and you don't touch your GI bill) Buy low cost index fundsBuy some high risk stocksSave save save save saveRead every real estate book you can get your hands onPlay it out over 20 years.

Since in the past 10 years, you see those type of storms / flooding more and more.I would also worry about the insurance price or having to need a flood insurance or even not begin able to insure the property at all.Bottom line, costal living is still a dream for lots of people and if you are willing to take on the risk, then go for it.

What is the risk of not having one?

You (and your family) have to be comfortable with the added risk of leveraging your primary residence, but I think it is a good route to go.

You would have more tenants to deal with, but your risk of losing income is divided between the 3 tenants. i.e. having 1 tenant move out of a 4-plex and losing 1/3 of your income is less painful than having a tenant move out of a duplex you live in and losing all of your income while it is vacant. 

Disadvantages: If you are planning to use an external accountant, it hassle to transfer the data back & forth and also since your data is housed in your computer, there's a risk of losing data in case your hard drive failed. 

Many buy-and-hold investors want to qualify their own tenants as part of risk mitigation. 

Also a way to look reducing the risk and debtMarisa

What is important to me though is the risk and the return, not the price point (I personally wouldn't invest in low price point properties overseas and you can find more properties with a lower price point in the US).