If it’s primarily her, flip for immediate cash.

The Midwest might be worth a look—it's affordable and offers great cash flow potential.

So I can cash flow with less rent.   

The implication to the LL is that in virtually every market the average purchase is cash flow negative.  

A Lot of agents 1) don’t really know all the intricacies/procedures/rules/strategies to do a short sale and 2) don’t want to do all the extra work involved in one, for no extra fees.Attorneys are not great for negotiating/processing shorts sales…they often slow the process down are not needed.If it comes to that point, have a talk with your agent, and their broker, about switching to an agent with short sale experience.You would need to show a financial hardship though….as in you can Not afford to pay the negative cash flow indefinitely. 

Like many I refinanced in ‘20 and locked in a 2.8% rate on my current property and I assume it can cash flow around 400-500/month if rented, or 125-140k net on a sale. 

You can still find tons of positive cash flow and the 1% rule and appreciation here in this market!

To pay for the renovation, we did a cash out refinance.

Great buy and hold area only if you let the cash sit in the property.

For a BRRRR it should cash flow about $300 monthly, and as a all cash rental about $600 monthly, and both of those were with more upgrades than really necessary for the house because I wanted to way over budget the repairs, because I'd rather over budget and be happy that I'm under than go way over.