You have to buy right, know where the market is headed, know ALL of your expenses and know what your various "outs" are before you commit to a property or you will lose your shirt.  

There's an adage in several sports about critical things like protective gear: "a $10 helmet for a $10 head."

Especially if you can refi down the road into a lower rate.

You can purchase this with a low-money-down FHA loan. 

Not able to move (at least for a while) due to my job.Looking to use savings that would’ve been for a primary residence down payment to invest in rental property out of state.Would love to make connections, hear thoughts on good markets to look into, strategies to maximize return, etc. 

I would suggest taking the route of option 2 or 3, so not only are you saving over 10k in rent per year but the residents help in paying down the debt.

I bought my first house 2 years ago for 255k 20% down at 6.375% APR.

Are you trying to narrow down the perfect property type for your first coliving investment?

I was playing with the idea of selling my condo, taking 300k of the equity to put a down payment towards a house listed at 660k.I'm assuming the reno will run $300/sqft and going in with the assumption that phase 1 will run 750k (figure the expansion of the house will have to wait) for the gut reno.I assume/hope (but definitely not banking on) that I will be able to refi in 2-3 years at a lower interest rate; if not for a lower rate.This will likely be a family home for the next 5-10 years at LEAST so investment value isn't quite at top of mind ATM.Questions:Even if it's not for lower interest rate, do you feel it's advisable to refi to remove the 203 loan in the future?

Heads in beds means more revenue.