Then added a bedroom and rezoned the property.

You have a 1 bedroom so house hacking doesn't really work and most HOAs won't allow for short term rental and in some cases, arguably mid term rentals (I am starting to see no "transient" housing of any kind, so an argument could be made that this applies to mid-term). 

It’s a 2 bedroom 1.5 bathroom by LAX.

This approach involves work and risk 3) alternate rent models such as STR, MTR, rent by bedroom.  

As @Jake Andronico mentioned, more bedrooms can lead to more income for the property, but potentially more conflicting personalities haha.

Smaller square footage compared to Whisper as a 4 bedroom, which might limit potential rental income.b) Whisper, San Marcos:Larger home with an extra study room, which is a valuable feature for potential tenants looking for office space.

It was a working building for $90k that just needed some cosmetic updating. 2 bedroom units and a 3 car garage.

I also tend to rent more 2+ bedrooms to the military than my smaller units.

Just to give an idea, we are looking to build 42 units around 600sft 1+ bed room units and 2 commercial place, total sqft is coming around 42k.

First unit includes the first floor and basement, with 2 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.