Bling Bucks- The reason I'm looking at 4units or less is simple because I can claim that it's my primary residence and get better financing than if it's considered an invesment property.

He is our resident 1031 expert.

But I would like to invest in other properties as well as my primary residence.

If you pull some more equity out of your primary residence and can pay it down to an 80% LTV (if you have any left) and the rate should drop dramatically.With an 80% LTV you could get an interest rate around 6% and an I/O payment of about $760 plus taxes and insurance.

You might look at purchasing some property now or doing it for your personal residence, but I would wait before you start remodeling for resell.

I am prepared to puchase my first house and am wondering if it makes more sense to make it my primary residence (because of the perks that come along with this), or just do a short sale or wholesale deal for my first property.

Yes,If you're claiming it's a personal residence when in fact it is a rental, that's MORTGAGE FRAUD!

It redistributes the tax burden fairly among it's residents.

(I've had more calls to my residence than to my rental...

I used my HELOC on my primary residence to pay cash for the property and 0% credit cards to finance the repairs (13K).