You acquire more capital in your position by (1) decreasing expenses, (if possible) and/or (2) increasing income.  

The new listings I have seen are laughably expensive (mortgage is 2x rents for example). 

Yes, if the price was wrong or the rewiring of the house was needlessly complicated and expensive.

This is why you must evaluate properties not strictly off intrinsic #s like people did in low rate era.

I can house hack once and subsidize my living expenses.

CLT renting prices are expensive, why not pay a little more monthly owning property that will appreciate in value

@Eric KajkaTHanks for the post   1) your FIL  will have  approx 2-3%  of selling expenses  assuming there are no realtors involved ..assuming 600K sales price  and existing loan amount  he will likely  net   a bit under the  400K  needed for AZ house ...he  will also likely have  some  costs  involved  with moving and buying the  AZ home .   

@Amanda McAvena I could see myself using the less expensive version of this in out of stare/area markets.

Sounds pretty low

CPAs seem to be very expensive costing thousands of dollars!