Hoping to repeat the process, we opened escrow with a smaller property in the same community, but the math shows we will be losing about $300/month for the first year or two due to interest rates/inflation of home prices in the area.

Things to think about;- Will the STR market hold up through continued inflation and a likely economic downturn/recession? 

Plus, real prices (inflation adjusted) have more than doubled in the past ten years after remaining largely even for the prior forty years. 

I'm currently in year 2 of my first mortgage and according to Zillow (which I have a gut feeling may inflate values), I'm already at %.79 LTV.I'd like to drop my $175/mo PMI so I've contacted my mortgage lender and a local appraiser.I've already made improvements to the property such as removing a bunch of cracked concrete from the front yard, replacing with grass, plants and a nice paver stone walkway.

I live in northern VA, have been househacking for five years and also have a paid-off condo about two hours away that hasn't appreciated beyond inflation since I bought it 14 years ago. 

That's what I use for my investment properties.As a Investment Advisor, I'd caution you on holding so much in cash while inflation continues to be high over the next few years.

Because inflation will kill you on that.

This option scares me due to inflation eating money and not really trusting the stock market right now.5.

But I also did it with almost zero inflation and before BP and free expert opinions and advice from people who had done it all before.

Let them know your exact criteria and if they start to send your properties that have inflated ARVs or things that don't match the criteria you gave them, then move on.