Anyway, if I could justify rent for $1200/month that would boost my monthly rent to around $250/month which to me I wouldn't hesitate on moving forward with.

With some of the fundamental principles of personal finance being save more money & find ways to reduce spending, house-hacking meets both of those principles and will help boost them. 

Ironically, the Coronavirus pandemic is the first recession on record where personal income has actually risen, thanks to government stimulus checks and boosted unemployment insurance payments that are now, unfortunately, long lost memories.

Some of the tactics that I've read and some that I've used - most of which boost the confidence of the seller that you would close on time:-Come in with "hard" earnest money from day 1 (this appears to be popular in DFW) and/or increase earnest money deposit-Reduce time to close as stated above -Compensate seller for any extensions in closing (in the PSA up front) -Depending on the seller's current loan situation, offer seller financing (this could be a win-win for both) OR assume the current loan which could help them out huge with yield maintenance -Some have had success buying nearby properties or offering on nearby properties at the same time which could make a case for a higher bid with larger economies of scale on expenses -Don't develop a reputation for re-trading :) 

I would imagine RE investors would have been outraged by this at the time, but would there really have been a sustained boost to property values, and if so to what geographic extent?

As soon as Expo goes to Santa Monica in the next year or so, it should provide a good boost as there are just not many easy ways into SM that take 20-25 minutes.  

They where just to far upside down, they had paid pre crash pricing for the development and now they are selling at post crash pricing.I pointed at the main partner who is a 70+ yo man with high moral values.

@Tanya Braun thanks for the support, I feel you will get a boost in the tri city area when the sky train is finish, hopefully it's enough to get you out of your sistuation.  

Boosting your credit score can take months or years, depending on its current state.

This has been a huge boost to my confidence.