Seller says they will accept $300,000 down (non-refundable) with lease payments of $4,500/ month (doesn't count towards principal) for 3 years in which we would have to pay the remaining $1.45 million at that point (title stays in seller's name until then and also pays the property taxes).

The US Government and the States have but one way to deal with this, taxes.

I hope this helps!

Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRA) or Solo 401(k)s allow tax-deferred or tax-free real estate investing, though they come with IRS restrictions.

Hope this helps!

I see most trying to aim for a 6-10% CoC return "as is" and then hopefully see some upside over time with increase in rents or appreciation.

If you just have one rental you can probably get by with generic tax filing software.

If you do not qualify, you would then look into if you would qualify with renting your departing residence. 75% of the lease will be used to offset that departing residence mortgage. as you mentioned the timing of renting the place can absolutely be tricky so you would hope you do not have to do this.Finally, and I guess would be sorta of a trick, but we do bridge loans on occasion in this case IF you can qualify once you get the property rented at market value even if debt to income ratio is too high before it is rented.

I'd be happy to make connections over similar goals, and to learn about tax info for DC, great spots to buy, and trends for rentals.

If I give a client tax advice and they go to their real estate agent, who then goes to a forum to confirm what I said....I hope they get a cramp in their in their foot.