@Steven Ko Keyword = Roommate.

It's an even greater ROI if you get a roommate or Airbnb part of your home (any covid fears aside). 

Why not move in and get a roommate? 

I rent to my friends and it's been very good overall but I did run into an issue where I wish we had a lease in place. my roommate and I split the utility bill but I was about 8 months late in dividing the utilities up. when I finally brought the bill to him he was upset because he was under some impression that I just wasn't going to charge him for any of the utilities since I didn't bring it up for so long.

Keeping unwanted roommates, not moving out and upgrading. 

And for the spare space I’m hacking can I put an ad looking for a roommate, and get a partial rent since I in the Navy and spend a lot of time on a ship. 

You may want to start with a single-family in a nice community that you know will rent well to other military families. you can still get a roommate or two and create some cashflow to save up for the next purchase.

I wouldn’t over-do any improvements and focus on renting out the rooms to roommates if young and single especially.  

One of my investor friends advised me that SFH aren't under rent control (for now) and that if I have a tenant that tenant becomes the Master Tenant and collects rent from other tenants (the roommates) with a written agreement, no separate leases with me and the future roommates. 

You just need to figure out how to make it work and where your comfort level is in terms of roommates.