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.

Knowing you have properties in Northern California, do you carry earthquake insurance for any of your investment properties? 

$20hr, same as the person who carries your food?

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

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!

SInce the buyer will have to qualify for any non-owner occupied seller (if it is) the best way would be a strainght assumption and carry the second.

At the price point you can carry, I would try and go Louisville unless you are going to work in the tertiary markets around Charlotte. 

If you are looking to take full advantage of your VA loan, see if you can find a builder to carry the construction loan  until the permanent VA loan closes.  

This will not affect me.I am able to do this because I live in Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County, where we have both a local court records system and a statewide judicial portal that gives us info on every eviction carried out in the Commonwealth.

Check to see if this fits with your wealth-building and portfolio diversification goals by taking into account your entire investing strategy and financial ambitions.Finally, carry out a comprehensive risk analysis.