Don't meet at the house or the local coffee shop to sign a lease.  

Hence the reason why I thought hard money would be required during the seasoning period.Also I think we are heading into a correction for some areas of the country which means you could loose some of the value and eroding the 25-30% discount it took so much effort to find.For now I think the smart money is to buy with rehab in mind and only take deals that can also buffer for possible interest rate increases and some market softening.

@Gayle Eisner Before the next fire comes along you might as well just shop around for replacement properties for a 1031 exchange and see if one catches your eye.

Debt service ratio loan I can't guess as you didn't provide rents, loan amount, taxes and insurance and any HOArate shopping is near impossible when you need to disclose: middle mortgage FICO, property type, you can or can't qualify with IRS returns past 2 years, have some reserves and how many months, location, loan to value you want... and other factors.Suggestion: prepay is a huge cost, try to buy out of it upfront to be flexible in the future.Rates are a moving target they change a couple times a day, and come in increments of days (15 30 45...) 

I've been very thankful for my decision to move to a Barska Key Cabinet for storage, Google Sheets for coding and tracking, and Kwikset Smart Key for each of our locks. 

Due to Covid, deliveries are slower and prices are higher, so you need to shop around aggressively.

I fully agree that it is smart of landlords to treat great tenants as if they are worth their weight in gold.

It was certainly smart to start with cosmetic needs only. 

You are not searching for the lowest rate in the world, you need someone who is: able to close quickly in the state, is smart, listens, and cares.

I would shop around.