So the property I bought had previous termite damage and we are having it repaired and treated however.

The gold standard is what your intent was for the property, and how you can demonstrate that intent if ever questioned.

I live and work in the area and want to stay local in my initial phase of investing.

We have a Wii in the kids bunk room and it gets used all the time.

The west coast, especially Seattle area is very expensive.

Did you find the higher loan amounts were worth the short-term nature of the loan?

The house is already occupied by a tenant and is on lease until April next year. 

Myself I had my title company pull every NOD in the MSA which was 4 counties 2.5 mil people. create a spread sheet and they would up date it daily as new NOD's came in.they would give me address  lien position  tax information and lien judgment search.. having our title plants digitized and off shore allows for this data to be gotten in a few clicks.. then when I got my short list I would give them that list about 48 hours before the sale and they would do a date down for me on those..

You run the risk of the IRS classifying the property as 'personal use' if you rent the property for a lot less than FMV.

This is my first time making a post on Bigger Pockets so bear with me.