Goal: Now that I have a job, I'd like to invest in California (parents are here and my job) / Western Washington since I still travel there for friend purposes. 

However, current tenants smoke pot pretty consistently.

I had one say he replaced all the smoke alarms and when I went to the property guess how many smoke alarms I saw?

I'm in OKC but travel around a lot. 

One guy has 2 German Shepherds; its a relatively small place with a small yard, he travels and would have a roomate stay with him, in a band and has a lot of musical equipment, etc... and the other couple asked me about house parties, smoking, and how many people I would allow to say in the house at any given time. 

I prefer closing by mail as I am not always able to travel.

Do the best you can with the inspection, just know that depending on how hot the fire got, how much smoke was in the house and how long, where exactly the fire went, etc can end up causing a lot of unseen damage. 

I'll be taking a travel assignment first (13-weeks), so that we can feel out the area and determine if that is where God would have us to live.

I have never borrowed from a HML, although I will later on this year.I, too, would love to borrow as much as possible, BUT I try to put myself in the HML's shoes...If I am a HML and someone with very limited or no flipping experience asks for 100% funding, I would not do it even if it were a smoking hot deal.

If I would see any chance to invest within driving distance I would stick to that.How much would I pay myself for travel for a showing or to meet a contractor?