Can not go wrong with a rental in Ashburn since the rents have increased so much. 

While I’m open to both turn-key and fixer-upper properties, my preference leans slightly toward value-add opportunities where I can improve the property and increase equity or cash flow.That said, I’m also happy to consider turn-key options that provide immediate cash flow if they fit within my investment strategy.

If dipping into your emergency fund makes you uneasy, you might consider waiting a bit longer to build it up or look for ways to increase your cash flow on the current property.

We decided to do a full rehab to get nearly double the rent ($2900)and increase the ARV to $260k.  

Increase your earnings, reduce expenses, save up, and invest.

He tells you to pay him $5,000 (or much more) to learn all the "secrets" that made him wealth, but then he doesn't tell you that his "secret" was to increase earnings, reduce expenses, save up and invest.

I suspect that is unlikely with the increased need for housing.  

I am thinking to switch to online rent collection from receiving checks in the mail, but worried that receiving 1099k will increase the complexity during tax filing time.

There are always ways to increase the value of most homes, but that is also a crap shoot.

Yearly increasing costs will, in time, eat up any profit they have per unit.