I want to make sure I understand the nuances correctly before making this suggestion to to my better half, so hopefully BP can give me good advice about this and make sure I'm thinking through the repercussions correctly.TL;DR My wife hates living in the South and wants out ASAP and our owned primary residence doesn't come anywhere remotely close to cashflow potential, so how do we leave before the 2 year mark while also avoiding a hefty inflation-induced capital gains tax bill?

Hopefully your device has a skip ahead 6-12 minute feature to avoid burn out. 

Avoid the national banks.

I'd avoid turn-key properties.

To avoid this, is it still possible to add a partner (none related) to the title that becomes the equity partner to the deal, and would this help in avoiding the UDFI tax? 

If yes, any particular areas to absolutely avoid ?

You also have an option to put 20% down to avoid PMI and still get a HELOC up to 95%CLTV as a back up for either renovations or money for the next purchase.

One source of cities to avoid is Neighborhood Scout's 100 most dangerous cities.

@I know i am trying to avoid eviction etc and try to solve it the most amicable way i can but she doesn't realize that i can't wait on her homebuying process and taking advantage a bit.  

If you wanted to avoid this in the future, require the deposit to be a cashiers check and presented to you with the contract so that it is in hand when you sign.