According to the IRS’sOffice of Research Publication 6961, it received almost 6.4 million 1099-Cs in 2015.

You COULD place the property into a Land Trust with the LLC as the beneficiary with your partner and you as the trustees (managers,) which would help conceal your names from public record.

I'm thinking with the economy as uncertain as it now seems to be, maybe this is the time to hold tight and maybe reduce some debt anyway.Or the other option is to stay conforming, go right up to the $484k limit, pay the 1/4 point for cash out, and at least get $34k back out. 

I think municipalities would be very smart to do the same thing, since converting multifamily units to AirBnB rentals reduces affordable housing inventory and drives up prices.

I notice in IRS Publication 537 that real estate dealers are forbidden from using the installment method and must realize all the gain in the year of the installment sale however it references some special rules in 26 U.S.

You may want to engage an accountant to look over the returns to see if you potentially missed some expenses that can lower your tax liability, thus reducing your monthly payments to the IRS.

The listing was public on the MLS.

Is the source pulling a Goldman Sachs, whereby they tell their investors one thing but tell the public the exact opposite?  

She won't cash flow, but she will likely only be paying a fraction of what she would be otherwise paying for rent or to buy her own place.I also wouldn't say she has to forgo these things for the next 10-15 years, just long enough to build some equity and save up a little more money (which she'll do given the reduced housing costs that come with house-hacking).I think your main constraint is the HNI loan.

The best interest rates and down payment amounts are on owner occupied houses.   30 year mortgages are fixed for 30 years and help with increasing cash flow, while 15 year reduce cash flow but pay down the properties quickly.