I've seen quite a few alternate lending products that are pretty competitive with MFR loan pricing even on gov backed loans.

Alternatively, I could put tenant interview as one of the contingencies.

Make seller financing more attractive, you could offer paying a higher interest rate to the seller.

The way the proposal is written, it will limit the average investor instead and the type of investment (i.e. no alternative investments), reduce diversification, increase risk, and limit hard working savers ability to save for retirement. 

My other strategy, which seems way too unwieldy and unfocused, has been to open Google Maps, and pick random cities that I have either heard of, or are adjacent to population centers or natural attractions (mountains, lakes, parks etc), and start looking at Zillow and comparing historical data for the props I see listed to try to gauge where we might be on the bell curve of appreciation.

The alternative is to hire a broker for a business that you form and own. 

I was able to get vacation home financing for 10% down and an attractive 3.125% 30 year conventional loan  on a purchase price of $415K. 

Meaning, if no mice were in the unit prior to them moving in they might have brought them with them or done something to attract them. 

Don't know anyone in that area, but many OOS investors set themselves up for failure because they don't truly take the time to understand:1) The Class of the NEIGHBORHOOD they are buying in - which is relative to the overall area.2) The Class of the PROPERTY they are buying - which is relative to the overall area.3) The Class of the TENANT POOL the Neighborhood & Property will attract - which is relative to the overall area.4) The Class of the CONTRACTORS that will work on their Property, given the Neighborhood location - which is relative to the overall area.5) The Class of the PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES (PMC) that will manage their Property, given the Neighborhood location and the Tenants it will attract - which is relative to the overall area.6) That OOS property Class rankings are usually vastly different than the local market they live in.7) That a Class X NEIGHBORHOOD will have mostly Class X PROPERTIES, which will only attract Class X TENANTS, CONTRACTORS AND PMCs and deliver Class X RESULTS.8) Class A is relatively easy to manage, can even be DIY remote managed from another state.9) Class B usually also okay, but needs more attention from owner and/or PMC10) Class C can be relatively successful with a great PMC (do NOT hire the cheapest!)

That may have caused small multis to look comparatively less attractive, when that is not necessarily the case.