Excellent job with both. 

DeSoto is a great choice.  

Any background on the Tokyo market choice?

These earnings can be used towards buying another investment property, and then another, and another, and then a home somewhere in between these roll up acquisitions.Of course there are personal wants and desires in making this choice to buy an investment property 1st Vs a home for your family.

My credit score is excellent.

@Michael Hayworth  Excellent post.. and that's why the foreclosure game is so regionalized.IN our market we have the one big trustee service called Northwest trustee service and they are on line.. with pics and everything..

I just have choices now buying a nice car early on wouldn't have afforded me.  

It's a great area and when combined with the excellent buy you got on the land it maybe an opportunity to hit one out of the park.If I were in your shoes I would quickly find several builders to gather some intel in rough costs and timing.

All references cleared up (credit score, landlords, employers, etc. )I know I could have moved on to the next applicant but I like giving ppl the benefit of the doubt and in her case, I think I did the right choice. 

Here we do not have mortgage terms longer than 7-10 years and most folks use a 5-year term, so the concept of ones mortgage rolling-over every few years is par for the course ... you simply renew/refinance, or pay out, as your mortgage comes due.On those 5-year terms, you have a choice of either a fixed-rate mortgage (on a 25 - 30 year amortization) or a variable rate mortgage (which floats with the prime rate).