Long story short if you are committed to house hacking the sky is the limits and there is endless possibility, it really comes down to your comfort level and where exactly you need to be in New Jersey.

Over my time (over 30 years), if your lender will make a call to the seller/seller's rep to explain the level of due diligence we've done on the buyer usually goes a long way.

It’s a bit like playing Monopoly but with real addresses and real money.. and when done right, it can feel like unlocking a secret level in the real estate game.But hey, no point pretending it’s all sunshine and roses.

On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your risk tolerance level?

Don't know about anyone else, but I feel like my personal daily battle is between doing what is urgent and fuels my raging undiagnosed ADHD, or what is actually important.I've done a ton of work on this over the past almost 4 years, and still am nowhere that I think I need to be, but I'm at least getting to a level of awareness I don't think I ever had before and that is a win in my book.  

I have a 3bd/3ba, 2451 sq ft condo with attached garage near downtown Richmond closer to Level 1 trauma center, great schools and universities.

I will not use the equity from my personal residence to invest in real estate, sure it can make more money but its just my level of risk tolerance.  

Given our experience level, we are not ready to make an investment in a place that far away from home.

BUT....With the rates dropping ( and they will)  Buyer interest will increase and the markets will immediately start to level first , then increase( prices) as both buyers and sellers see the market stability and value.

Just go through them, select the renovated/closely matching ones, and enter them into a model.Here's my fix & flip model, you can see the comps entered and some quick stats below them: Then I use that comp data to adjust the Sale Price in the model to what I estimate it will be (double check the resale $/sf is in-line with the comps), then adjust the purchase price until I hit my desired return level.