The only option is a very complex process called a leasehold exchange. 

Why would someone lay out their money to you if you don't have data and evidence to support your deal flow in the past so they can feel secure about the future?

There are plenty of management companies in Boston that could help you with that as well as navigating the complex short term rental laws and markets.

Expensing the percent of heating, mortgage interest, property taxes on a home office is VERY complex and you need to pay your CPA to come up with a plan.

I have a small apartment complex near a university, in other words, I basically run a dorm, lol.

Of course, the city has lots of access to data which is important for building lists to market to, but a little hustle can get you similar results in the burbs. 

One person who contacted my Aunt said that their plans would be to build an apartment complex there or have rental property there.

National data can be useful for informational purposes (price, rent, inflation, days on market, etc.), but your local market can be drastically different.

Others like flipping can take a lot of time, someone's money, and be riskier - especially if the rehab scale is complex.

I would check out Hotpads and sort by rooms for rent, this will give you a accurate view of what students are paying for rooms as opposed to Rentometer which pulls completely different data.