I personally used a 40k ADU grant with CALFHA HPP Cares that covered a chunk of the cost.

Many sellers will not accept this since they are in second position, and it is very risky since if you default (higher probability for investors with no money and/or no skin in the game), they will most likely be wiped out during a foreclosure.

I think you will need to look at fredericksburg or further away - and most likely a property that needs work.You can find some on the maryland side but be careful with some of the neighborhoods those homes are in.

. - We help with stress and time off.𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿.When people feel important, they do their best.When teams trust, they do great.When health is important, work gets better.I work for BiggerPockets, a company that truly takes care of me and it's employees, which only pushes me to be true asset.

While you are willing to work with them, they are apparently happy to live rent free and don't seem to care about you.I had a long term tenant (5 years) who stopped paying the rent.

You can still use a property manager for on-site tasks, but your own activities—like managing bookings, marketing, and bookkeeping—must be well-documented and exceed the property manager’s time.It’s important to carefully track your hours, especially if you’re managing remotely, as this can face additional scrutiny from the IRS.

this means that these owners are under much less pressure to sell, and so they don't really care that their price won't let the property be a good rental. 

If you care and it bothers you, raise their rent another $500/mo for the hassle.

With this scenario we both have skin in the game: His work and my materials.

This takes care of most of the issues.