I have a home in escrow right now and it’s perfect for sober living because of the area and how the house is set up.

The property is 1 of only 4 licensed lodging houses in the town.

What strategies can I implement to maximize rental income from my first property, which I intended to convert into two units ( Unit 1:Main house, Unit 2: Basement sun room) but cannot due to zoning restrictions? 

It's just like people wanting me to broker their deals as NNN investor and used to buying houses and they think 400k is lot of money then I tell them minimum for good area and commercial tenant 1 million plus down payment and 3 million and up price.In their mind it's tough to spend that kind of money.

My biggest mistake was underestimating the cost of renovating a home and the amount of time it would take me to do it myself.

can you start with a house hack or a live in flip?

There's a good chance that financing a fix n flip would still require 60k liquidity or so because the value of the house would need to be at a certain level. 

If you want to get that beach house before prices increase even further, the cash flow may not matter as much.

These areas not only offer reasonable purchase prices for many investors, but also feature turnkey homes—either newly built or fully renovated—ready for tenants, with systems that still have around ten years of life left.

We currently have one short term rental in PA with another being renovated from a SFH to 2 unit.