Also, as long as the house appraises, taking broker commission and using it against down payment and closing costs means lower cash requirements for me which increases my CoC returns.

You increase the likelihood that you continue to receive that $8,500 each month. 

Here’s a streamlined perspective:Your current approach, putting more down upfront, minimizes risk, increases cash flow faster, and allows you to build equity while reducing overall interest.

I think it will increase down the road, but right now the town is a bit on the past.

Real estate has always been in the back of my mind as a way to increase our wealth and provide for our family.

My plan for this year is improve my credit, get my real estate license (to increase my income on top of my W-2), possibly career transition into the property management space (to learn more), and save as much as possible and learn as much as I can.I’d love to house hack close to home but my area is so expensive it seems like it’d be close to impossible. 

Largely, the appreciation in housing prices is coming from both new migrants and investors coming from the East (GTA) as well as international countries (predominately from the middle east).We are also seeing drastic increases in the rental rates which in turn are pushing investment property prices up as well.

Anywhere that one can buy properties for under $100k is very unlikely to have the rent increases that you will need over time to create positive cashflow, or the price appreciation that you will need to make this a profitable endeavor.

With regulations increasing we've been seeing more and more people who want to invest in STRs start investing in Vacation rentals.

Gave the other tenants a smaller 250 increase and fixed up attic space to rent as storage.