But of the options you note, the only one that really makes sense to me is the CoC option. 

House hacking and leveraging my W-2 income to stack properties before transitioning into full-time real estate makes a lot of sense, and I'll definitely keep this approach in mind.

I’ll have to research cross-collateralized loans too - I wasn’t aware anyone was doing that but it makes sense. 

Many of the investors that I work with are from the West coast or the Northeast and it just doesn't make sense for them to invest around where they live.  

Any one of us could give you our two cents on the math of it, but only you can decide if it makes sense based on what your specific goals are. personally, i paid points on my house because my goal was lowest possible monthly payment.

-Allows you to pull equity from the property to fund the rehab without stretching your finances.If you'd like, I can walk you through the details and answer any questions to see if it makes sense for your situation.

For the $525K property, with the low mortgage rate(you will probably never get a such low rate), it might make sense to hold onto it for now, especially if you can still sell it as a primary residence within the next three years and avoid capital gains taxes.

If you're pretty smart with this stuff, I think can definitely make sense for you two to talk with a tax planner.

Quote from @Kaushik Sarkar: I’m exploring strategies to scale my real estate portfolio given the current mortgage rate Not sure much makes sense at 11%...Ouch....tough enough at 7.5%   Might have to put more than 20% down to finance....maybe 30% in North Texas.   

Ensure you collect a proper security deposit (typically one month's rent in Florida) to cover potential damages.Your plan to increase rent next year makes sense given rising costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance).