@Omar @Omar Khan So let's assume that 30k is not my entire capital pool but my risk capital distinct from my portfolio/Net Worth/Savings.

You may also consider working a "regular" job while learning and saving.  

Depending on how much you buy it down, a lower rate can also save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars over the life of a 30 year mortgage.

You can sometimes:a)  sell the land to a neighboring farmerb)  if close to a city, subdivide the land into acreages for people to buy and put a house onSo you might be able to save $50k on your house by selling the farmland for $100k and still get the farm life. 

Sounds like the question is more about the trade off of (time and money going into a commercial-to-residential conversion) compared to (savings from better loan terms)...

Why not just follow Tom McElroy’s tax advice from rich dad books & ignore all middle class savings tools including IRA’s, 401ks etc.

In truth, we went over the existing tile and engineered hardwood in the living room, dining room and kitchen to save money.

One advantage (other than saving multiple trips talking to poorly trained bureaucrats) is that you can also filter the list so you only contact people with homes that you want to buy.

The guy on the lease has leased the 2bed/2bath apartment for 1.5 years now and I believe he has done this for a quite a while to save money.

In my opinion, when you use a PM you can't really complain too much if they didn't get 5 quotes to save you %10 or 15%.