.- Value-Add Investments: Beyond cosmetic upgrades, think about adding amenities like solar panels, EV charging stations, or smart home tech.

House hacking seems like the best strategy for me.My goal is to purchase a single-family home in Maryland, D.C, (from lurking I've heard D.C was terrible for investing) or Virginia with multiple rooms where I'm making monthly payments similar to what I pay in rent and other charges ($2000-$2500).

Going back to the OP, I'm not sure what fees NY charges for LLCs and how many properties or businesses he has but I think these "asset protection" companies overcharge people. 

.- Cities like Toronto will levy another tax (Vacant Home tax) equivalent to 1% of the current assessed value of the property if the property is not occupied (rented, owner-occupied, family occupied, all count as occupied)- Land Transfer Tax: while the Province of Ontario charges anywhere between 0.5 - 2% of Land Transfer Tax when your transaction closes, you should expect to pay this amount twice if the property is in the City of Toronto .

I'm the single breadwinner for my family (2 kids) so I don't know if I'd have the time and energy to both run this rental and manage my work so I can reach the income level to handle the bigger mortgage comfortably.I feel like this chance for us to have a rental property with positive cash flow won't come often so I really want to explore it.

Generally, there are some programs for foreign nationals that are 25% for a single family rental and 30% for a 2-4 unit.  

You really don't know a single thing about Real Estate do you John? 

Just a simple 499 sq ft city approved plan, single story, 1 bed/1bath/full kitchen adu with living space.

The nicer areas are already charging a premium so be careful. 

Since you are married and live in a community property state, the IRS treats your joint ownership as a single owner for tax purposes, meaning you can answer "No" and proceed with disregarded entity classification.If you want to eliminate confusion going forward, you could dissolve the current LLC and set up a new single-member LLC under one spouse’s name, ensuring automatic disregarded entity treatment without needing to file Form 1065 in the future.