By August 2023, I packed up my introverted self, moved to paradise, and two months later—BOOM—homeowner status unlocked.

Every month you are paying $400/month, almost $5k/year for your properties. 

I rely on SEC 8 for these neighborhoods in the winter months.

This is the equivalent of a car salesman pitching the "monthly payment" of a car instead of the actual price of the car.

Quote from @Pierre Tran: You say the property nets $1,400 a month?

You can get a refi based on the as is value after 3 months of ownership.

Monthly payments are fixed.  

depending on how backed up the county is it can e take a few months for court date. in essex county it took my mother in law about 8 months or so for the full process. she had an attorney, not sure if that sped anything up

Quote from @D'Ann Melnick: Saw this was an old question, but it came up in search - this is all part of the rent stabilization laws passed in 2024 - https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/Resources/Files/tena...The pet deposit cannot exceed $300 and the total amount of security deposits collected cannot exceed two month's rent.

Unless I'm mistaken, the contract between owner/landlord and PadSplit doesn't have a defined monthly rent but a target/goal of monthly income (so it's hard to use that as lease).