Thomas Landis absolutely, count me in!

Interesting cross section @Paris Beitel; East County to Oceanside.

And for such a property, yeah I would want to be in a central location with the highest traffic counts.

Find similar square footage homes, similar land size, and same bed / bath count no more than a mile from your subject property.

With a FHA loan You must live in the home for a specific amount of time, possible to put down 3.5% but with that just make sure you can get a significant amount of cash flow while counting in MIP.

I'll vouch for what Jeff mentioned and will state that if your next lender (or current) is investor friendly then they will be able to count both units of your rental with executed rental agreements. 

My husbands uncle ( 70 years old) has a home he owes about $50,000 on.. current mortgage is $650.. he also has some credit card debt to the tune of $10,000.. with his social security he barely gets by and counts every penny.Here where the real estate investment part comes in...bare with meThe home is in dire need of rehabbing.. but he has no money to do the repairs.. in the current state the house might fetch $110,000.. comps in the area for moderate upgrades sell for $185,000-$210,00..He considered selling cheap to get out and buying a condo.. but he would still be cash poor.. he figures what he could sell the house for would pay off the credit card debt, and give him some money down on a condo..

I doubt that any bank/credit union would count my last two years of foreign earned income towards any loan and it won't look good applying for my first property without a job.

When you get the requisite employment history (plus the solid credit you already have), you might aim for a 2-4 unit property as a first home purchase (2-4 units counts as residential and there are some great loan programs to look into). 

i hope to have my offer drafted and sent this week if all goes well today.I am slightly nervous about it not being under contract yet...crossing my fingers on this one that she didn't consider any other buyers.