If the Seller agrees to reduce the price to $210k, this will be a short sale and the bank may have a say or two about it. 

If it is investing to keep your living expenses down in the short term, maybe you buy nothing now and go the traveling nurse route, saving your money for down payments.

The headers are the squares of the brick (short side).

The risk you run of course is now you have more debt so in the case the market goes down and you need to sell, you run the risk of coming up short. 

One of the best ways to get started is by using a 203K or rehab loan... this will allow you to get in the property with 3.5% down and you can even finance the rehab.Interest rates are a bit higher than traditional FHA loans but the 3rd "R" stands for REFINANCE so you'll only be holding that loan for a short time.I'd speak to a local lender, broker, and investor for more info.Aside from attending local meet-ups, don't hesitate to reach out to people personally via private message or on forum posts...

those funds for short term high yield lending could be appropriate.. in reality that's how most HML companies work they have some sort of LOC  at a rate in the 5 to 6% rate and they loan at 10 to 15% apr and make the delta..now with 450k that won't exactly changed your lifestyle but it could bring you in an additional 30 to 40k a year with mitigated risk and no risk to tenants..

Local laws are loose on owner occupied sfr and short term rentals

FYI - City marine, and I assume others, charge a primium to owners who do short term rentals.  

We will be closing on the first property there on Feb. 28th, 2018 and the 2nd property shortly thereafter.

This may be a silly question, but if it's a cost thing in the short term...could you build multiple pads < 5000 sq ft and avoid the engineering costs/permits?