Again - not fully sure how this works, but reach out, and I'll continue to explore the forum for other posts/folks in the area. 

But first, we wanted to explore homeownership.Getting Qualified (or not) with a LenderAt the time, we were living in a small mother-in-law apartment rented from a family friend.

I don't have a lower cost option yet, but I'm exploring this space.

So have fun exploring the different areas of the metro taking some tax free cash at every move. 

This community seems pretty awesome and I'm enjoying exploring it so far. 

CashIf you have the means, you can purchase BRRRR deals with cash you have saved.These are some of the methods you can explore.

State residency questions are a matter of facts, circumstances, and intent.With proper planning, and bona fide action and intent, an expat can change their state of residency.However, if all of your friends and family reside in MD, that's where you primarily visit when you come back to the states, you maintain a MD driver's license, and/or are registered to vote in MD, a (current) argument that you're not a MD resident for MD income tax purposes would fall flat based on face value.You'll want to work with your tax advisor to explore this issue as (1) there is nuance, and (2) every state's rules are slightly different. 

You might be setting yourself up to get stuck.For all I know, you have already explored all of this, and this is your only option. 

Obviously there are no shortages of O&G companies, both exploration/production and transmission, and we have one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the country with Daikin about 30 miles out of town.

That's still quite wide.You'd need to hold a property in LA for 10 years for the 80% confidence internal to be entirely positive.So if you bought a duplex or even a house with the intent to sell in 3-4 years, chances are you'd make some gains in appreciation, but there's also a chance the property wouldn't appreciate, and then you also have to overcome the costs associated with buying and then selling the property.Given that we're in a really weird spot economically and at least some economists are predicting a recessionary environment next year, I'd recommend against househacking right now.That said, let's explore a scenario in which it might make sense to househack...If you were to househack in LA right now, you'd firstly want to find a property that lowers your cost of living.