I wanted to place no contingencies in the offer, but we need to sell our primary home to get the funds to close.

@Randy Person, is there an urgency to close this deal quickly?

I have about $100k available for down payment, closing costs and I'm hoping to have some left over for reserves.

Another thing I'd highly recommend is talking to property managers on BP to get some feedback-- it's probably very rewarding and can produce income without many starting costs, but it does come with headaches.By thinking about your next steps, you're already on the right track.

Florida will continue to suffer from much lower affordability due to increased insurance costs and taxes. 

Personally, I started in a market close to me as I wanted to do rentals so until I got my process down, I didn't want to venture too far from home.

Those states have "income source" as a protected class and as far as I know are only the west coast (CA, OR, WA) and the new england area (MA, CT, VT, NJ ect) Account Closed  In most states you are not required to accept Sec 8, and as such if you choose not to you could deny processing an applicant that is using a voucher.

There are no fees each time you draw. closing costs are often minimal, and the rate is similar to a hard money loan.

You need to factor the cost of refinance (average $7K which may change depending upon the price of your home)

I don't know if it is legal to do, but if it is then it's a smart way to finance closing costs instead of fronting the cash.