You will need to use 3rd party management and others to perform work at the home.... further expenses and improvements.

So I told her I would be willing to do it gradually because its an expensive project.

If you rent at the top dollar, you may experience excess vacancy/turnover expense.

But what if the property is CASHFLOWING $1000–1500 a month after expenses ???

@Joshua Postthere are lots of things you can do:-talk to a lender to find out how much you can borrow-find an agent and go look at 50 potential house hacks-reduce your expenses so you can save more each month-go to all of the local REIA meetings and find out what the other investors are doingjust because you haven't bought something does not mean you are in analysis paralysis.  

Plan to buy a combination of new construction and turnkey to avoid large capex expenses in the near term.

If your local market is too expensive, don't be afraid to venture out of state. 

The cheapest was $99,000 and the most expensive was $460,000.

Honestly you’re not gonna cash flow pretty much anywhere in the region and to be honest you can “house hack” a rental basically you could rent a room in a house, the biggest reason to buy is over time, the appreciation plus locked in payment looks better over time, frankly that time horizon is about 5 years on average right now, if you expect to be in the region for the next 5+ years buy something I’d probably prioritize buying something your comfortable in for the medium term than “cash flow” which your not gonna find regardless with these rates. 

Lending to a flipper is much riskier and carries a much higher risk premium than owner-occupied loans, which currently carry a National Average according to unbiased publication Mortgage News Daily, of 7.13%.