House hacking is tough to break even with in year one (with current house price run-ups and interest rates) for a couple reasons:1.

In order to do that you would need to use Non/QM, DSCR or a true Bank protfolio loan program.  

Any reason not mentioning DSCR Loans? 

For that reason, it probably makes sense for me to take it out. 

My main reason for not wanting to take a smaller % is I want it to be worth my time and energy put into the property.

@Andris LinautsIs there a reason why you are only looking in Richmond? 

At this point the value of the house is still increasing but not at the same rate as the previous years for a number of obvious reasons (high Interest rates,  age of house, etc.) and at this point I'm not sure what my next move should be since I don't like having all that equity tied up in the property and borrowing against it (HELOC) doesn't seem like a good idea since banks seem to be charging even higher than "normal" interest rates because the house is not my primary residenceIt's been almost 2 yrs since a I moved out of the house and I know my time is running out before we'll have to pay capital gains on the property if we chose to sell it [unless I do a 1031 exchange of course] but wondering what other options I might consider.

In my experience, generally the party paying for the title insurance gets to choose the title/closing agent, unless there a reason for the other party to object. 

@Aaron Brown I am looking at Indy for the same valid reasons you stated.

One example might be running a meth lab at your rental.In my experience judges come down harder on lease violations, particularly for health and safety reasons, than they are non-payment of rent.