Here's the thing- there are tons of listings on our local MLS that list all the bedrooms, conforming or not, in the main part of the listing.

What was the purpose of holding the house for almost more than 1.5 years?

If you don't already have an attorney, check out the credentials and reputation of any attorney you plan to retain for this purpose to be sure they know their stuff.

My main concern is rent.

In this economy I would recommend Fix and Flip Quick Flip and the main difference of those two is making any repairs/rehab. 

It's ~2hrs away, so I'm not sure whether hiring a mgmt company is the correct choice in that scenario or not.Cashflow would be nice, obviously, but that's not my main goal.

I'm hosting and often bring my lawyer's perspective with me to the conversations.We do "Best Deals" and worst deals (we call them "Bad Beats") episodes, and some contract forensics/deal post-mortem episodes as well.The main idea is to learn from both successes and failures.

Most advice I have read is to start looking once you get past the 5-8 unit mark but honestly a proper sized umbrella policy will serve the same purpose.

LOI’s aren’t used with single family homes, no need for them and they serve no purpose on s sfh, just make an offer. 

Counseling sessions are used just for this purpose, to keep the service member on track.