I've written a few articles here that should help in your decision:The 10 Best Markets for Your First House Hack13 Real Estate Hot Spots You Won’t Want to Miss Next YearI'm personally putting my money where my mouth is and moving to Fayetteville, AR where I will be house-hacking my first property--something that could only be a dream in Los Angeles.

It also fits your budget & also I know some of some above 1,300 sqft, good boned, central air, yard space/drive way space having on & off market single & multifamilies in that price range. 

Gallons of humidity from the air itself is certainly an oddity.So you need to find where the water is getting in.  

OPM exists.By the way, anyone who uses a bank to buy properties is in reality using other people's money.Money is not created out of thin air.

Austin, Dallas, and Houston are all incredibly hot right now.

The same with the hot area with awesome cashflow.

How about adding a hot tub?

I don't like the idea of staging photos with flaming hot cheetos against my new penny tile backsplash, but then again I see other listings getting mentions in the reviews so who am I to question it?

My rental market is still very hot.

They are in a hot area of Jacksonville and might have 5 available at a time, but all of the above they need to fix before I would ever recommend.