(Talking about myself in 3rd person) haha!

Personally I think CT and RI have a lot of potential.

On the other hand these are also where you might find your deepest buys so it really just depends on your personal strategy and buy box, many investors are having success in these areas. 

If you are doing section 8, there's a good guy I know of that handles that although I don't have personal experience in this space.

My question is - does the 7 feet per person equilibrium rule apply to total NRSF in the 3 mile or can that be broken down by class (cc vs non cc, facility age, etc) and the 7 rule applied as a cap to each individual class?

There is a Bigger Pockets investor that started with some successful Airbnbs he personally manages of his own in Nashville TN & Columbus Ohio.

Just don’t know if I should sit in the side lines or get involved. 

It was inmy LLC name but I personally guaranteed it foolishly using my house as collateral.

If you want to use the VA loan, I would just go ahead and do it in your personal name and just make sure you have a good insurance policy (the first line of defense). 

Personally I’ve stuck with SFH to avoid tenant on tenant conflict but thsi will let you find out if “the juice is worth the squeeze: with very little risk. 1) I assume you’re getting a least a few percent off for not involving a realtor.2) I assume you feel confident with the value (maybe ask a local banker what they would lend you on the property and even lay for an appraisal.)3) this is all assuming that this is a small investment to you as I’ve described above, not most of your savings and all of your operating cushion.