I know there's advantages and disadvantages for doing this either way.

But every advantage has a disadvantage since if holding property until death it goes to your heirs with a 1031 and to the charity with a CRT so depends what you want to do. 

I have been sticking to looking at strictly SFH REOs because that is what I feel most comfortable with (aka have done the most research for), however I continue to get tempted into a possible townhome deal, or at least look closer into them.Is the major disadvantage dealing with association regulations?

The disadvantage to infloor is you'd need to do a concrete over-pour on the 2nd floor.  

This puts us at a dis-advantage when it comes to haggling over cost with a sub contractor.

The one disadvantage you are looking at is once you get there you have to learn a new market.

.$450K house in Dallas is not considered as investment category. i recommend to sell and buy house in 150K - 175K range with rent in 1400 - 1600 range... following are disadvantage of renting 450K house...You are getting >0.8% rentMaintenance like repair/carpet/paint will cost lot more in higher value houses.

Over time, real estate can be is a solid investment.Key Takeaways:One benefit to investing in real estate is that is can give you a steady flow of income.One disadvantage of real estate is that it is time consuming and sometimes difficult to be a landlord.Another disadvantage to investing in real estate is that it requires an up-front cash investment."

If you mean you are doing mailers and talking to sellers over the phone if they call and strike a deal then I'd say you are at a disadvantage to those who go and meet the prospective sellers.

I never thought in a million years that I would have a bank literally change the documents from what I agreed to the most disadvantages loan terms I have ever seen in my life.