@Wayne Brooks Thanks, my main question though is if I see a house in Montana for instance and its at the price range I want, can I living here in Washington get preapproved for a FHA Loan and a 203k if the house warrants it to purchase a house while I am here, or do I need to move to Montana?

But I got caught in some interesting stuff.Sure, Bay Area, LA, Sacramento have scary prices like 3 bedroom houses for $1M and rent at 3,000.00 (far from the basic 1%), but I looked over cities like Fresno - the fifth largest in California, with 500k+ habitants and a lot of good looking demographic and economics numbers - and I've found several properties in the 100 ~ 200k range with some close to %1 rental numbers.http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Fresno-Californi...http://www.zillow.com/fresno-ca/http://www.city-data.com/city/Fresno-California.ht...Fresno is just one city and California is a big state.

Kyle/Buda are practically the same community, but you will find more in your price range in Kyle 78640 or the southern zip of Buda @ 78610.  

Both units need work; here are the larger items:Appliances (Unit A needs range + fridge; Unit B needs fridge): $1,500Floors (flooring needed in living area, hallway, bedrooms - probably use vinyl): $3,000Windows (need to be re-sealed) + New Doors (front screen door, doors in basement to yard, etc.): $1,500Paint (most rooms need paint): $1,000Roof Shingles: (may or may not need to do; roof missing a few shingles near gutter): $300Dryer Duct (missing a piece that connects from laundry room to outside, quick fix): $100Hot Water Heaters (electric) x 2: $2,000 (which is probably way high, but trying to be conservative).TOTAL ESTIMATED REHAB BUDGET (which is probably sky-high): $9,400ESTIMATED CLOSING COSTS: $5,000 all-inPROJECTED CASH-ON-CASH RETURNS: 14.91%=====================SECTION 8 PROGRAMI really need to educate myself on the Section 8 program. 

The idiots didn't know what they were doing or were so desperate they could have blown up the house... they cut 10 feet of our brand new 220 line for the range and about 3 feet of the gas line (copper, corrugated looking).

Deals such as you are discussing can range from honest, legit ventures to outright scams.

We're currently looking to purchase up to $300k (no preference on # of units so if it meets the requirements we'd be interested in any properties in the $100k - $300k range).Mods, If this isn't the right forum, please feel free to delete and let me know where to post this. 

The pre-approval process and understanding the houses/options in your price range is step number one.

By our calculations, we can go as high as 81,000 (all cash) and still come out in the 20,000+ range in profit.

@Bill Jacobsen  Using the PropertyAnalyzer spreadsheet on the website, it shows a 8.26% cashflow over initial investment or a 6.92% cap rate (using $5k closing costs - which I've been using across the board, but very well could be lower with a property in this low price range; also a $295 property management start-up fee).