Why not just buy a new primary and rent out your current home.

I have lumber liquidators, home Depot, Lowe's, and who knows what else near me (central CT).

If either of these homes has been your primwry for anywhere approaching a year.

The VA and Fha loans have been able to do it but their strict appraisal guidelines make it tough to buy the often older homes in my market in Virginia Beach / Norfolk Area. 

Can’t house hack, we own a large home with lots of kids.

I want to remain local in NJ or at most drive down 1hr to PA (self-manage or, last resort, hire a PM)However, I must also consider maintaining reserves, a safety net for my primary home, and an emergency fund.It's just hard for a new investor now :(

I've financed deals using equity from my home and loans from others.

I’m open to either a townhouse or a single-family home, but I’m definitely trying to steer clear of any crazy HOAs that eat into cash flow (you know what I’m talking about!).

Then I was getting requests from other investors to help with their homes, so I did.  

In July 2022 my wife and I bought a larger home to be our primary, and we have since rented out the condo. - Despite 3 tenants in under 3 years, it has done very well for us and has only been "vacant" for 15 days in that period, and has great cash flow, ~$1000/mo due to ~50% equity in the property, and a low covid-era interest rate. - I have been saving ALL of my cashflow into its own account to accumulate to buy the next rental (totaling ~$24,000).