It's late, they're yelling/playing music/whatever I need to sleep and don't want problems with my neighbors.

Appreciation seems like the only play here.

Is there a step up in basis for the husbands half of ownership, will there be a $250,000 or $500,000 homestead deduction, and are there other mechanisms in play that I may not be aware of?

There might be some variation of that available Our company does pull credit but only soft pulls.

So I was playing around the data and created a simple interactive map for housing market data visualization by counties across the US, like home prices distribution, mean days on market, listings number, etc. 

Now from an investment standpoint, I would assume when it's in the lowest demand it's the best time to buy but if this STR could be a LTR you're playing in that same market.

Development is one of those plays that either goes incredibly well or incredibly poorly.

I once attended a free Kiosaki seminar on buying in the stock market........then they asked us all to play Roberts stock market board game to aquaint  us on the basics...

Investigate how to vet tenants properly, there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, and the resources and limitations of your locality should play a big part in determining the technique you use.

(I'm not sure how this will play out regarding the value of the home and only paying $160k.