I love your tenacity and drive for success.

Not a whole of 2+ unit properties in the DC metro, but you should be able to find one within a decent drive to the metro.

I know CA is quite expensive but I be the area areas within 90 minute drive that are more affordable.

As each opportunity crosses your path, you can choose to do a deep dive, get a lot of information, do a full analysis and then determine how you will move forward (i.e. invest or pass) .

Alameda, Santa Clara counties may be a drive for you as well as the City.

We certainly used some more than others but what really drives a deal and which lenders to use really depends on the market, the asset, the client needs, etc.

I would invest out there but it is a little too far for me to drive (I'm in the South Bay area of LA County).Anyways, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions regarding financing.  

Did you go through the house and drive the area before making an offer on it?

We started this the grass roots way and have fought our way up.

That's if the bank actually appraises your primary for $400k (my experience with HELOC appraisals are drive bye only and very conservative low values).You could get an investor loan, max LTV is 80% with rates about 1/2 to 1% more than national mortgage rates.I personally think that the interest rates would work out to be the same, with the investor residential loan being the only fixed rate loan.