I want to be able to get myself in the best position possible for when the time does come, however long that may take.

@David Dachtera While I do agree with you, right now we're not in a position to leave sweat equity on the table.  

But like several have said, the DST is a great fall back position for your 1031. 

@Braden Jackson WOW...great plan and good position to be in.Lots of different options depending on what you want to do and I would also think your credit score is a huge determining what loan you get.#1...probably right now you best bet is to buy a 4-5 bedroom if you can and rent bedrooms.

@Olivia Cannizzobuying a primary residence is a very personal decision, and I normally try not to advise on itbut - buying is expensive, in that you can pay significant closing costs on top of the down paymentso... to buy something to live in for 9 months, and then be negative if it's a rental... and now your 20% is stuck in it and not available for when you movedoesn't make a lot of sense to me unless i am missing something.if you move, you could house hack in the new place with a much lower down payment loan... and that frees up a ton of cash for other things. 

Also, for house hacks generally, you cannot write off any % of your mortgage since it's your primary residence.

Sure, building that equity via value-add is one measure but fact is getting a property where on can build a 30% equity position.

Quote from @Katlynn Teague: @Shubham Aggarwal I am not a100% positive, I would double check with your broker!  

Being able to live rent reduced, net 0 or potentially cash flow positive is appealing to me so that I can focus on other things.

If after that deduction, and all other deductions you still have cash flow, which is unlikely, it is a candidate for hold however based on your description of the handy work I would guess it to be a maintenance pig that you would be safer to unload now and move on to other endeavors that will have a better chance of being positive cash flow.