I lived 2 blocks away from one, once.

Are used to live in Cullman back in 2021 and fell in love with the Huntsville area.

Look at buying a 2-4 unit, live in one unit, rent the rest.You'll get an unbelievable education!

As for internet marketing on Zillow - when your listing goes live and if your listing broker ...and... their MLS has a data sharing agreement ..and.. if the brokerage hasn't opted out then the MLS listing data will overwrite your Zillow listing.

Fast forward to today and we are in the main house, and I was able to take a HELOC out and buy an investment property, and with my tenants in place we are paying below $2K/month to live in a 3 bed house with a nice backyard.Your team (Realtor and Lender) should be able to walk you through the process.

Consider a live in flip, we used to use terms like sweat equity to describe this tactic.Couple of lender ideas Get a co-signerTalk to local or regional banks, you will need "portfolio" lender.Get a bridge loan from hard money or private money until you quality for conventional financing.Financing will be tough. 

I live in Montana and geographically, it seems like one of the only options for investing that is within one flight away from Montana.

Can't beat the Southeast to both live and invest...

I think people will live in Meridianville/Harvest/Albertville/Athens before they'd move to Decatur.   

My 2 cents is that for non-sleeping areas, hot tubs, pool tables and movie rooms are top amenities that guest have personally told me they like the best.I think an outdoor rated pool table (or maybe ping pong table), TV and comfortable seating would likely be the best bang for your buck.