Ideally I would like to keep the majority of my investments in my home town.

I deal with used oil drums (hazardous waste) at work all the time.

Everyone has their own ideal place to live. 

Ideally you would have a property management company coaching you through your first property for a year or so.General maintenance - high maintenance tenants generally imply higher maintenance and turnover costs.

I deal with building inspectors, subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers on a daily basis.

Ideally, this is a project I can start in July or August at the latest.

Just determine who your ideal tenant is,  be realistic, and give them what they want!  

I'm wondering about the various merits of purchasing another Single Family Home,(advantage  a multi-unit (free of any HOA associations, ideally), or a commercial property for rent to another business (not housing my own business). 

Thank you Marcia, ideally I would be plugged into a local rental association, but I guess this is a good time to start!

(Place is in great shape, and in 4 years have had essentially nothing serious happen).All that being said, I was wondering if there was a way to lower my monthly mortgage, ideally to get it down to about 1500/month so then we would be breaking even and I can stash even more cash away to buy up my next property.