I bet I received some of your mailers.

So our best bet will be a portfolio lender?

I'd be willing to bet she has huge personal problems.

I think leveraging that equity to my advantage may be my best bet...not super experienced with PML's though so I may look into that more as well.

I bet 20% of my deals every year get done because I have a relationship with the agent on the other side of the deal.Be aggressive. 

I wouldn't bet on appreciation to make my property work, but I have a really hard time if I cannot have a reasonable expectation of a property appreciating at the pace of inflation (2-3% a year.)

Find out the loan to value on which they will loan to ensure the money will be enough to cover everything.If they do seasoning ask for how long, if its 3 months not bad at all but no seasoning is your best bet and saves you money.

If they are motivated sellers that NEED to sell the town home, and they are open to seller financing, I bet you there are BP members that could help you w/ money ideas.  

First, speak with your mortgage company, check you can make regular or one off principal payments, without penalty.Bearing in mind it can be hellishly expensive to live in Europe (depending on where), you might need that savings.Hedge your bets a bit, because it's a lot easier to give the bank money, than it is to get it back.

of course, but i learned from that too. no one has ever set out to do anything and learned how to do it with out first learning how not to do it. the greatest story i ever heard was about the assistant to thomas edison. when edison finally invented a working light bulb, ( which by the way took him 10,000 tries), he gave the bulb to his assistant to carry upstairs to the testing lab. the poor kid tripped on the stairs and broke the bulb. edison simply made another one and gave it to the same kid again to take upstairs. when someone asked him why he gave it to this kid since he broke the first one, edison simply said " i bet he won't do that again". he was right. learn how to do something wrong the first time to learn how to do it right the next time. get out there and just get going...... good luck to you