Living trust does nothing for anonymity.

Best of luck on the investment journey, feel free to reach out if I can be of any assistance! 

The FHA rules/regs (in particular the FHA self-sufficiency test) are applied the same across all markets, and I know for a fact that in rural communities across the country, and big cities that are not particularly desirable places to live, it's not a deal-breaker, I am not commenting on those areas. 

@Andrew Katz, if you will be living in your next house hack, you should investigate a conventional loan instead of hard money.

If you are just starting out, this is for you:When you buy an investment property, it is treated differently than a house you are going to live in. 

I currently live in chanhassen but own rentals and have a few flips going in the rochester area.

Do you know anyone that lives there, or did you go to college there?

Yes 1k sqft is small but probably much better than living with family.

(or if they're primary buyers, they don't care about yield, since they're going to live there.)i just went to visit two very distressed properties yesterday that i would buy.... if they were priced 50% lower.  

I would pull a FHA loan for $665,000 and live in one side and rent the other side out to a family member for $2,000 a month.