Offered 3k in holding and moved quickly What was the outcome?

Quote from @Patricia Andriolo-Bull: My son is in the Army currently at JBLM but is moving to GA in July.

How easy is it to change the code when a tenant moves out?

In Columbus, you can still find the 1% rule and there's amazing appreciation potential due to how much population growth, job growth, and companies moving/developing there (recently Anduril just announced another 4,000 jobs coming to Columbus Ohio on top of Intel, Google, Amazon, FB, Nationwide, Ohio State University, etc.).

I'm in the process of moving out of my primary SFH and moving in with the girlfriend.

Instead of moving into another single-family home, consider house hacking a duplex or triplex, this allows you to use low down payment loans (FHA, conventional) and offset your mortgage with rental income, accelerating your path to financial freedom.

She's thinking of trying to assume the loan but I told her I'd try to see if there is a better way to move forward.

We are ready to move forward to begin acquiring more properties, but I am wondering what has everyone done in order to minimize taxes for their real estate? 

Picking up flexible part-time jobs to qualify for a mortgage is definitely a smart move, as conventional lenders typically look for consistent W2 income.

Maybe if you can, move around every month to check out different operations.You might also be checking out 1st time homebuyers programs, zero down programs and what the requirements are to do that.