The trick when working with Navy Federal is to build a relationship with at least two local loan officer.

What I did was looked up notices of default at the court house, but I am wondering if there is a certain date I should search back to, or if there are any tips or tricks to doing this

I grew up in Nova Scotia (about an hour outside of Halifax) and while I'm currently not investing there, I do visit frequently and hope to do some work in Halifax in the next few years. 

The banks I frequent have a wait and see approach to my growing portofolio and are more than willing to entertain deals next year. 

Also, plumbing is a frequent issue in these older multis. 

My experience is if you are going to really understand a market that is out of your area you need to make it a point to visit that market frequently and get to know other local investors who you can build relationships with to intimately understand and know the market over time. 

I know it's not a magic trick or anything like that.

What this means is that even if they do bump their FICO 20 points, the ONLY way to ACTUALLY KNOW if that'll do the trick (49.7% DTI is a coin toss), is after it happens.

You're allowed 10 residential mortgages under your name.Anything purchased in an LLC would be a commerical mortgage, as it's a business buying it, not an individual.A trick is to get 10 residential mortgages under your name, then refinance them all on a blanket commerical mortgage. 

I find more frequently with three-family properties or four-family properties that one can usually break-even when you're living in one unit and renting out the others, and once you move out, you end up positive in terms of cash flow.The next big difference is ability to "repeat" the owner-occupied process through the same type of financing.