I'm definitely interested in your connection!

And never being “at risk” is it even sufficient to legally bind a seller?  

Due to the current interest rates, you probably can't live for free, but you can definitely learn how to house hack in that first year, reduced your personal housing costs, learn the rent by room/co-living strategy on-site, and then probably break-even after move out, but most importantly, it is possible to make that work in 2025 with today's rates.It just takes being open-minded and willing to be flexible for the 1st year.  

Thank you so much @Kevin SobiloIm definitely leaning more away from making them jump through hoops to look at my unit.

Quote from @Sarah Ali: The seller has a contract with the agent, which means they can't legally sell the property without compensating the agent.

HUD loans will take drastically longer (I've never used one personally), but there can be benefits to using these loans if you're a long-term owner.The interest rates in your Key Considerations seem very low for agency loans and they're definitely low for bridge loans. 

Definitely some cause for long term concern, but this also can give opportunity to other investors that are willing to invest out of state or more people moving to other states like AZ and TX with long term appreciation in these markets.How is the appreciation in Phoenix?

I will definitely check it out!

Try to simplify your first deal as much as possible (the deal you described is over my head and definitely outside of my risk tolerance).

I looked the current listing over again and it definitely is listed as "pet" and not "dog" friendly and says it's a "pet fee" and not dog fee.