We had the option of cutting our losses by selling the property OR to go ahead with our original plan of adding some sweat equity by fixing it up to hold/rent out.First off, I 1000% echo what the other posters on this thread have shared.

Just make sure that you have house rules and expectations set up ahead of time.

(That's not the case for a traditional long-term rentals.)You might also be able to use a second home loan if you plan on visiting out here for 14 days over the next year.

With an FHA loan you can do this with only 3.5% down. i think that if you are toying with the idea of buying a home, then it'd be a good idea to go ahead and work with a Lender, just to see what price home you can actually qualify for.

Shorten my learning curve, yes we all could get free knowledge online may or may not help so you can spend endless amount of hours & not be ahead but just have knowledge. 3.

If I was to jump ahead with a strategy for you and your family, it would be to leverage this loan and buy a 3-4 unit property that you can "house hack." 

-The Days on Market (DOM) figure for single-family homes fell from 51 to 29;-Total property sales increased 1.6 percent with 11,285 units sold;-Total dollar volume rose 16.9 percent to $4.0 billion;-The single-family average price increased 13.4 percent to $372,408; -The single-family median price rose 13.3 percent to $300,000; -Single-family homes months of inventory registered a 1.8-months supply, down from 2.4 months year-over-year and below the national inventory of 2.6 months;-On a year-to-date basis, single-family homes sales are running 15.3 percent ahead of 2020’s record pace and 21.6 percent ahead of 2019.

Conversely, I grew up near the Washington DC area and am somewhat equally familiar with that area as well although I have not lived there for quite some time but visit frequently.I am caught between having my first deal be in my own back yard in SoCal or investing out of state back in the DC area (or anywhere else for that matter). 

I lived down there for a few years, even just visited down there last weekend. 

There's a lot more ahead.