1 Year Flip, Half of a duplex, or something else?

[Jacob Forbis]

I'm wanting to move about 30 minutes north to New Braunfels or San Marcos from San Antonio so my soon to be wife can be closer to school. However we will want to move back to San Antonio once she graduates in May of next year.

My dilemma is what I should do for the year we are close to her school.

The thoughts that came to my mind were:

Long term flip: Find a place, fix it up and live in it for a year and then sell it when we are ready to move back. I imagine we would be there less than two years so we wouldn't get a tax break for this strategy.

Duplex or multifamily: Buy a duplex or triplex, rent out the other side, and then when we move, keep it and rent out our side.

Or third: Just buy a good rental and live in it for a year and rent it out once we move.

What would you do?

Also, any San Marcos or New Braunfels locals here that might have some insight into good areas?