I know you mentioned picking one up 5 years ago, but my wife and looked and looked and after failing to find ones that would meet our criteria, opted for SFH (townhomes in particular) for now.

Still building up the capital for my first deal while I consume BRRRR by David Green.

I have thought about short-term rentals, and may look at them again in the future, but Covid-19 has shown that some investments are natively more resilient than others, because they are more important to the consumer than other things. 

Otherwise, I have low expenses to a big expense item like roof or HVAC that ends up consuming many months of “cash flow”.  

Is there an escape or termination clause for the tenant that may let them opt out prior to the end of the 15-year term?

Insurance companies will be passing it on to the consumers.

If I go conventional, the down payment will consume all my capital with no room for error. 

Firstly hello everyone, my first post here but I've been consuming a lot from this community over the last 3 months.I'm currently looking at closing on a new property which will become my primary residence.

I've worked out 2 options for this:1. a 30 year fixed mortgage with a 1 year balloon payment2. a lease option (have not decided what the terms might be here to approach the seller)I'd be hesitant to lease option and do any sort of work on the house, but that does allow the flexibility for me to opt out if I need to. 

The problem is then that all the "BRRR" articles and podcasts they've consumed have embedded the idea in their heads that spending any money on a rental property is bad, and thus they should continue waiting for that "free" house they keep hearing so much about everyone else getting.