If you successfully house hack a house every year for the next ten years, you can buy and do whatever you want for the rest of your life- that's WAY better than having a property that you truly desire today and being tied to a day job for the rest of your life so you can pay for it. 

What is the easiest and fastest method to remove remaining paint?

However I think you may also want to consider the position you put a short seller in (they are usually heading to foreclosure), when you tie up their property with a contract you yourself cannot close on, and you have to rely on finding yet another buyer to actually close.

@Allen GrossJust be aware, one act is not tied to another.

I assume the remaining roommate gets another roommate... what if the remaining roommate moves out, and then the only tenant left is the new roommate, who wasn't even on the original lease... who would I give the security deposit to? 

When you sell, you subtract your basis in the property (the original cost and any improvements), and the remaining amount is a capital gain.

I worry that if one day my parents are unable to continue with the payments- I’ll have the responsibility of continuing the mortgage payments (of course) but will also be tied to not being able to sell the property as I wouldn’t have the heart to evict my own parents.

Also, having public lines nearby is always a big plus just in case you need to tie in. 

I was hoping the bigger pockets community could unanimously break the tie.

I took this project on before I had any financing and had all my cash tied up for almost 7 months!