. $500,000 was tax free due to being married.  

As a part of the partnership with the state of Virginia, which included $750 million of Virginia taxpayer money for infrastructure improvements to support the Amazon HQ2, Virginia is offering Amazon $550 million in grants for hitting that hiring goals, and an additional $200 million for hiring 12,850 more employees from 2030-2034.

You talk about not having the time to deal with these things, moving out of state, getting married, etc.

Husband and I have 3 rental properties between us that were we lived in separately at different points before getting married.

There are many more and many more personal goals such as getting married and starting a family, adopting my first GSP dog, traveling to Wyoming and Montana and spending more time in nature, just to share a few.

Hey, if you get married you'll be able to shield an extra $250k in capital gains!!

If your goal is cash flow, then your best bet may be to live in it for 2 years, and then take that tax free gain (250k single person, 500k married) and buy elsewhere. 

This is due to bonus depreciation which allows taxpayers to deduct 100% of qualifying property costs in the first year, in addition to regular depreciation for new construction and improvement.

I was in a similar position a few years ago, but fortunately got married and our combined incomes helped us qualify for a larger house hack.We're on our second one in NOVA, Alexandria to be exact, and instead of rent by the room, we are renting out our walkout basement on Airbnb to monthly guests.That said, we have a number of friends doing well with rent by the room across NOVA, though they're purchasing homes with 5+ rooms or finding homes that can be renovated to include that setup.I'd recommend attending meetups such as the one I cohost, NOVA REI or Cashflow Breakfast Club or any of the others to meet those who are house hacking.

Don't be afraid to look at other markets since you are not married some states offer better purchase to cash flow ratios.States like Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida etc.