@Mindy Jensen I hope you don't mind but I went ahead and stole a graphic from one of @Brandon Turner's articles.

The owner was an older lady and the house was unbelievably cute but the master bedroom had no closet (she used wardrobes; not unusual in these old homes) and the "second" bedroom really wasn't a bedroom at all; had no door off the kitchen, no closest, only able to hold less than a twin sized bed, and contained the washer and dryer. 

But it is still a cute town.

The graphic in my prior post shows, from the St.

With your budget, you'll probably be limited to South Arlington, where I'd recommend Shirlington/Del Ray as those are cute, trendy areas with lots of young professionals.

Find a cute 2-1 single family in a great area with something going for it besides schools and try to appeal older people .

You can see from the graphic below where it is located in the park. 

In exchange for their help I offer what Im good at; website creation and development, graphic design, anything music related (jingles, background audio etc, music tracks), boots on the ground if needed.

I know it’s not a concrete yes/no rule, but I don’t see how the numbers work in your favor after that.Homes in my area are at 220-260k for a cute, basic 2 bedroom.

It's very close to major highways for commuting, and within walking distance of a very cute downtown (although you'd have to cross a major highway, so not walking-friendly.)