If they're evaluating other properties and you have a good social presence that gives them peace of mind and a good sense that they'll have a nice living experience, that could be the tipping point if they're considering a similar property. 

I am leaning towards that you should house hack if you're monthly payment and accounting for capex/opex/reserves make sense.

Quote from @Kaushik Sarkar: I’m exploring strategies to scale my real estate portfolio given the current mortgage rate Not sure much makes sense at 11%...Ouch....tough enough at 7.5%   Might have to put more than 20% down to finance....maybe 30% in North Texas.   

Budget overruns and unexpected delays seem to be a common theme in flips, so padding the budget by 20% makes a lot of sense.

Many people choose NOT to have this, because the administrator will then vet every investment you make to ensure you do not invalidate your IRA.Invalidating your IRA means that you've done a prohibited transaction and the entire account is then deemed as distributed to you.If you don't want checkbook control, then I recommend a plan administrator such as Equity Trust - www.trustetc.comIf you are sure that you're aware of all the rules around prohibited transactions and disqualified people (who you can and can't do business with), then a plan administrator like Sense Financial would be a good place to start talking.  

I’ll have to research cross-collateralized loans too - I wasn’t aware anyone was doing that but it makes sense. 

Ensure you collect a proper security deposit (typically one month's rent in Florida) to cover potential damages.Your plan to increase rent next year makes sense given rising costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance).

My current agent suggested if it made sense financially, to do some rehab work to get the properties rent-ready, but I do not have the liquid funds to do so and sell these as-is.

Again, it makes no sense. 

Just don't see the S-Corp or another LLC having a place here..I've heard tax advisors say it takes around $70k min of self employment income for the break even point for S-Corp to make sense.