You may have an idea for a bedroom and have spent time speaking with the designer about it and then the designer carries out that plan.

The seller was willing to carry the remaining balance.

Consider what happens next if the tenant or someone has to be carried to the hospital for heat stroke...What happens next is you will likely be sued.4.

And if the veteran/seller isn't willing to carry a note and moonlight as a mortgage loan servicer, very quickly/aggressively filter out people who do not have substantial down payments (sales price - current loan balance = minimum down payment). 

I personally don't, but I'm not carrying my groceries up and down.

Here in Oregon we aim for 25-35% down for owner carried complexes.

Asset based mortgages carry a better rate but you are going to have your assets locked up not able to touch until you refinance or sell the properties.

Investing in another state carries some of these same risks but to a much lesser degree.Every time I've looked at something abroad the risk / profit trade-off seems imbalanced vs. what I can do within the US.

Some real quick items here:VA Loans are for Primary HomesYou can use VA Loans for 1-4 unit properties (House Hacking)VA Loans have 0% downpayment (most of the time)You can have more than 1 VA loan (some people don't know that)VA Loans do carry a "funding fee" which is like a little "tax" to write the loan, but it is waived if you are a disabled veteran.VA Loans do not have PMI (and that's a huge benefit for us)VA Loans also have a very streamlined refinance feature (called a VA IRRRRL) which makes it super easy to refinance if rates were to fall (hopefully that will occur in the future)VA Loans can also be used by a surviving spouse.The VA may not give us the best health benefits but they can certainly get us into debt!

If the property can be respectably sold for $250 you have to be all in at around $200 including the commission and carry cost.