Other things to consider with SFR are the extra maintenance and capex, furnishings, and also the management side.

@Ann McleanI have had both good and bad experiences with pets in my furnished rental.

Personally what I'm doing right now is house hacking, I have a 2 bd 1 bth condo and run a MTR my second bedroom for traveling nurses because I live 1.5 miles from a hospital, I used Furnished Finder to see the amount of traveling nurses coming into my area. 

You can also try experiment one unit being semi furnished and the other unit not furnished.

Should I house hack now with the possibility of having to relocate in 6-12 months and losing my almost expense free lifestyle and ability to save 80% OR buy now, house-hack, furnish a house from scratch, and then start saving up for another down payment to house hack again in a potential new location with an unpredictable timeline.

Renovations start next week, should be a quick turn and get it furnished.

You might start by looking at dashboard statistics on the Furnished Finder platform.

While I furnish it, I was planning on living in it throughout the process of prepping it.

I think a lot of new investors look at the allure of STR and see the big revenue numbers and forget how much damage your house and your furniture and your furnishings will take with guest after guest after guest staying in your houseIf you let your house and the furniture and the furnishings fall into a state of decay, what originally started as a big moneymaker will instead become a constant source of guest complaints and bad reviews and headaches and sleepless nights (for you & your guests!)

For your $550 cash out of pocket, you could buy two 8 bedroom, fully furnished and themed homes with bookings already in place in Windsor Island and still have a ton of money left over to go bigger on the decor if you wanted.