I may have to drive for dollars and scout out my own deal, but the problem with that is all of the stipulations that come with the STR restrictions.

Our rental market is extremely tight with little availability which is driving rents higher.

You get lower taxes in PA, there is appreciation in that market, and you can drive there if you need to.

What's driving you to want to invest in real estate?

But, if the cost is fairly nominal, maybe under a couple grand, and you have no experience in real estate, including owning your own home and hiring contractors for that, then it is likely worth it.I would always start with a deep assessment of where you feel you don't have adequate knowledge.  

I'm looking into potentially house hacking a small multi-family home, preferably in northern NJ (such as Morris county) or Westchester, NY if possible, but I'm open to other areas that are hopefully within about 1.5 hours (driving or public transit) of Manhattan.

I found out about the state of the lawn through a friend that did me the favor to drive to the property to check it out.

I have a PhD in Theoretical Chemistry/Quantum Dynamics... https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/article/142/24/244112/74387 ... and I literally designed and built my own house off of 30A in Florida ... https://www.scenicsir.com/homes/242-Blue-Gulf-Drive/Santa-Ro... ....

You can buy something like a cheap Arlo camera system at Costco and pay for the Internet connection in one of your units.You could ask law enforcement to do routine drive-bys or safety checks.

Most folks would prefer to drunk drive home from the games unfortunately.