Be patient.

Be patient or drop the price.

@Mason GreenSince you are familiar with both of these locations and plan on house hacking, I would suggest selecting the city that you personally enjoy living in more and being patient in finding a property that meets your financial requirements in that city.

They are often not patient pay, the organization running them takes rent as an assigned payee for SSDI for example, they then apply for other subsidies for the housing and heat and other services that person may need.

I'd rather my investments make zero than make a bad purchase, so I am just being patient while I keep shopping. 

This takes time so be patient and make it happen.

I've been trying to be patient with saving money myself, but I can't help but feel like that's going to take too long

Be patient, the market will eventually shift.  

There are a few of these in Fairfax County but you will need to be patient as they don't come on the market frequently.  

Seller paid for all repairs, and was patient enough to let my funds season for 2 months after my offer was made so that i could close. previous owner is now also one of my current tenants How did you finance this deal?