We do plan on buying more real estate but not for another 2 or 3 years.

We plan a trip to middle Tennessee area next week to scope out some neighborhoods.

Are you planning to use this as a vacation home from time to time?

It's crucial at the beginning to identify your financial goals as well as the amount of risk you are willing to undertake then come up with a plan that is in line with them.

If you plan on using private money funding you'll need a licensed contractors bid to get the loan.

RW or any other experienced commercial real estate brokerage will be a good sounding board for your plan and may have some ideas that have not occured to you yet. 

Just be aware of the HOA fee future.Developers typically set the HOA fees as low as possible to get buyers in.Once they turn the HOA over to a Board made up of actual residents, it's not a question of if, only WHEN HOA fees will be raised to where they should be.This will adversely affect your cashflow, so you should plan for it.

He's now planning on purchasing a suite (like Black Eyed Peas) but the return might not be as great the last time we looked at numbers.He obviously enjoys owning since he went and purchased another one years later, and is now looking into a third unit.I'll give you some rough numbers on the smaller unit.

You could possibly do a bridge loan, maybe a 6-12 month term to pull some of the equity and rehab, then sell or refi if you plan to hold.

We have now learned to verify the sq ft of every property we plan to buy.