I've thought about value add plays out of state but the managing of the rehab etc is turning me away.

But if your husband is adamant about not leveraging your primary, you have to play the hand you are dealt.If you want to owner-finance your current primary, you'll gain cash flow (acting as the bank), but sacrifice the cash you want to use for another primary or investment property.

I thought maybe I could play a role by making a nice, comfortable place to live.

If any of the neighbors sit on the porch and play the banjo, I would avoid that area.

I have  water damage in one of my properties in MD, and the IA is playing hard ball.

When it is a new development, it isn't uncommon to see someone use the date the Certificate of Occupancy was issued - perhaps that marks the "ready", but it still might not be "available".So you can certainly have a property in service in a given year, but not actually have any rental income - but certainly your facts and circumstances are much better if you can actually get a tenant in there, that (should) shore up your defense on that question ever coming up unless you are playing weird games just to get a given in service date for tax purposes.

Unsure how market will play out with elections. 

Finally have enough to consider making a play here and looking to find some locals and read further experiences here. 

Let us know how this plays out!  

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.