Originally posted by @Bjorn Ahlblad:I am retired so it is either rental income or cashier at Walmart-and I would not know how to operate their registers.Love that line, Bjorn, it never gets old.The two best choices are to pay down the mortgage with the rental income or use the income to invest in more property. 

Choice home warranty paid by the sellers sent someone to take a look.

Most of our future properties were usually not initially fit for prime time conventional financing so we had little choice.

Why getting higher rates, downpayment and closing costs unless you have no choice.

Going back to a previous comment I'd made, I think part of the issue is I really haven't narrowed down exactly where I want to focus (Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, or even home market in Chicago suburbs) so I haven't fully committed to either yet as I'm trying to learn about all of them before making a choice. 

I loved the choices individually but gray is a depressing color and you almost need bright orange or neon green accents to perk it up if you have too much.

I do know there is an Air Force base located in Atwater which is just adjacent to Merced and having a High Speed Rail System available to get to work would provide military personnel a lot more of a choice on housing locations.

Once you utilize that to the max, you'll have no choice but to look for other options.FSBO might be a source of deals, but not necessarily a "seller finance" too (if you are asking about financing from the owner).

Might be a better choice just going all in on that right now instead of starting small.

I second @Todd Goedeke recommendation: using life insurance as an investment would be poor financial choice.