Don't change jobs or income yet.Once you do and you think you can manage the payments based on your new income, maybe once you get the rooms rented.Then if you want to switch there are plenty of opportunities. 

A $400-500K mortgage is not a trivial payment plus property taxes on top of running your own house. 

MattIRA sells and owner finances the property for 200k and gets 30k down payment.

The key will be to set up terms so your monthly payment works.

Easy Street is a good option BUT you need CASH in liquid checking/savings for down payment of 20% and BIG chunk 2-3 times loan amount to buy out of a prepayment penalty.

Do they require payment on site or do they give you a certain number of days to close the transaction?

Since they are considering renting their properties out, sell them on the concept of getting consistent cashflow from you - without the hassles of being a landlord.You will then need to make sure you can make those monthly payments EVERY month in addition to do remodels.

Maybe a better question would have been if you know how much money you have for a down payment on a property? 

If not, you may have to qualify with the full mortgage payment against your debt to income ratio, including the new home that you are looking to purchase.From a tax standpoint, you may want to speak with @Natalie Kolodij. 

As already mentioned, you could sell via seller financing to lower AGI, as all you would have to claim is the payment income - until balloon payment received.Did know an investor that had 14 properties paid off and he moved into one every two years to then sell with the $250k single exemption.