Also, I would recommend adding some sort of screensaver to the TV screen and I second that a professional photographer is the way to go.

Maybe leaving a goodie basket and a handwritten note or something of the sort for your first few guests. 

I agree with some investors here, in Detroit you have plenty of opportunities to get decent cashflow now.Just use any Zillow like tool that sort listings by LTR cap rate, I use findvest.io they have decent vision AI filters to filter trash houses compared to mashvisor 26 doors and scalingJust make sure to copy and paste the addresses on spotcrime and don't buy in a warzone, and you should be fine.

WE have all sorts of rifles and AK etc etc..

If you're tax bill is $6-8k (minus the 1031 fees), surely you can make that up by taking multiple swings over a longer period of time.OR pursue some sort of owner occupied strategy with that cash if you can swing a live in flip or house hack.

So far, it’s almost going a little too smoothly and we sort of feel like we’re just waiting for the fall.

As a result I've sort of giving up on the dream. 

For example, I started investing in Buffalo (NY) a few years ago because I liked the stable population statistic along with the fact that a big chunk of the population is in the healthcare industry... along with major car manufacturers having plants or some sort of manufacturing factory there (Tesla, GM, etc.) 

If they were married, I'd think it would be more of a conversation about their future, but I can understand that if you are only with someone for 1-2 years they might not be willing to pack everything up and follow you on your real estate journey right away.Any thoughts or ideas to help us sort through the weeds on how to go about finding a house hack with these constraints? 

I don't know what they tell you in CA but here in NY we are suppose to reject any sort of income during the time of the eviction.