If you intend to live there for a year, you're within bounds to use an owner occupied loan.

You have to go beyond the price of the property, look at the neighborhoods. what looks like it will be good good income on paper will actually be a money pit. a $30k house is bound to be in bad shape in a bad neighborhood.Being long distance means doing your homework is just that much more important. 

However, if the apartment is rent-stabilized (which is likely if the building has six or more units and was built before 1974), you are bound by strict rules.

And talking to a local broker to get a heads up on the general vicinity and roads bounding the area seems like an easy way to become acquainted with the gentrifying area.

There are a number of meetups in Sacramento and we have been coordinating the dates among hosts so that there is no overlap - I run the West Sacramento Meetup that @Ben Howard mentioned (we gather every 4th Tuesday of the month).Here is a list of meetups that we're in collaboration with (they are all based on an abundance mindset that we have here on BP)- 1st Tuesday - REI Connect @ Roseville Meetup (reach out to @Nicole Masters)- 3rd Tuesday - Investor Mixer @ Crawdads on the River- 3rd Thursday - Folsom Out of Bounds (dates may shift a bit)- 3rd or 4th Wednesday - Real Estate Round Table (CH Cafe & Grill) - they recently relaunched and stabilizing the schedule- 4th Tuesday - West Sacramento Real Estate MeetupI'm working on putting together an easy to access list that Sacramento investors can refer to.

DIdnt know if I was out of bounds or not Locally we can check this online through the State contractor licensing search page.

You can borrower money from anyone and as long as you act in the bounds of the lending contract and pay the loan in the appropriate time with agreed upon rate, then sky is the limit between two private individuals. 

Its a pretty wide range depending on a lot of factors.

What is your price range/down payment amount?

What is your price range/down payment amount?