if she financed with a 20 yr loan it would be paid off by the time she would retire ....This is basically what I did altho I invested a larger amount of $$. 

Some larger lenders may actually have more lenient appraisals due to the volume that they handle, maybe? 

There is a handful of companies doing a good job and a larger, more evident handful doing a horrid job...

Means larger payments. 

We are in talks with a few larger local operators on some multi family portfolios.

(Due to amortization the numbers wouldn't actually be exactly that round) Over time that gap will get ever-bigger and my eventual payoff will get higher and higher too, so if I'm a big dumb bureaucratic institution that doesn't realize real estate is cyclical when making my models and choices, why would I rush to foreclose?

Out of the many different variables that go into that choice one that I keep debating is the following:I hear a lot of people tell me to stay away from Condos because of the unpredictability of HOA fees.

Oh, one other thing worth mentioning -- if you have a large farm area that you're looking at, considering separating the housing supply data between areas with good schools and areas with bad schools.You'll find big disparities there, and in some places, it's profitable to flip in small pockets of good schools, even if it's not profitable to flip in the larger geographic area.

The VA will question you moving from a larger unit to a smaller home (4 unit).

Yeah I’ve looked and said no to larger hoa due deals.