Since she lived nearby, I figured it was worth my time in attempting to recover the funds.

I live close to the seattle area, I have 3 rentals in the nearby cities doing very well, recent one purchased a year and half ago in Lynnwood, equity up 100k since then.

My house is near by and it has appreciated by $60k in two years.  

For example, the Denver market allows for a Freddie/Fannie loan up to a 80%, where markets nearby will be 70-75%.  

Then at the micro level, look at the main cities like Nashville, Austin versus nearby cities.

Perhaps you could look at nearby states.

Just a single family lot in a remote mountain town nearby.

I have been exploring rent by room lately and happy to exchange the knowledge.I will start with some gotchas:Lease: Two ways this can be done 1) Master lease and put each tenant on the lease, that puts peer pressure on everyone to pay the rent, keep the property clean etc. 2) Lease separately for each room, flexible renting and everyone isn't bound to others' wrong doing, tenants might prefer this.Utilities: Three ways I have seen people managing utilities 1) Include average utility cost in rent and take care of all utilities yourself and have a cap at max utility after which tenants chime in 2) Utilities are paid by tenants but that could cause issues when renting by room and one person is overutilizing electricity etc. 3) Fixed cost of utility charged to tenant monthly and anything beyond that is paid by landlordProspective tenants for rent by room: 1) Students attending nearby colleges, put all of them on one lease and have them find roommates, put their parents cosign the leases, 2) Traveling nurses, they're catch all when comes to rent by room but usually short term, 3) Rent out by room to any individual professional, this creates more management overhead but keeps vacancy lowCommon Areas: Try to setup such that common areas are avoided by tenants as much as possible.

I'm in the Ulster County and looking for one nearby. 

I searched and they do have an office nearby.