On my HELOC they did a drive by appraisal (regions bank and my personal residence). 

Austin, TX and the surrounding regions once again broke record highs for median price sales data.

But the top 10 regions for each metric are turning up all sorts of places I hadn't thought of and that aren't in the news.

If I buy a site and pay so much that it only pencils with the national credit tenant on there then I do not want to own it until there is an executed lease with non-refundable hard money from the tenant.If the land is so cheap that national tenant passes, regional tenant passes on the site but mom and pop wants it then I can still make money for the low price paid so do not mind owning it and land banking it for awhile. 

My suggestion if you are not going to move back to your location that you are in now, or if you are not going to buy multiple properties in that location then I would say save up till your are going to move in 2 years or less and then deploy that money once you get to that location/region.  

I am receiving a promotion at work that will keep me in the Houston region for at least two to three years.

I manage a portfolio of CRE investors whose investment strategy is diversifying assets from the MidAtlantic region (very low cap rates in our area), to the midwest and south in search ROI and ROE.That said, what's your overall strategy? 

These markets offer hiking, nature, golfing, and the future Two King's Casino.

Quick update after taking into account @Steven Tawresey and @Evan Polaski's advice and chatting with another lawyer and lender, I've decided to go with a commercial loan from a regional bank (FirstBank).I think the benefits - higher leverage (80% vs 75%), finance the reno budget, avoid due on sale risk, build track record with the bank - outweigh the drawbacks of higher interest rate risk (7yr fixed vs 30yr) and a slightly higher rate. 

I deal mostly with small regional banks and credit unions for my real estate business, but I definitely want to get tied up in a 30 year fixed conventional loan on my primary property.I paid cash for the house and only have about 60 days to close on the loan, in order to take advantage of the primary home interest deduction.