I’ll try to make this short: my wife and I own a duplex that we did a live in BRRR (got the refi at 3.5%) and had owned an airbnb that we operated for 6 years but sold because the town decided to do away with them (very nice of them).

Great for the tenant, great for the property owner.

I suppose I'm more worried about when we outgrow the multi fam and decide to move.

You need to just sell, owner finance, etc.

Usually you pay a fee for the option and then record it against the property so that the owner can't sell over your interest in the property.

And for the record, I, too, am an owner of a TK company in AL. 

It offers features such as property data, owner information, foreclosure tracking, and market trends analysis.

I purchased my home six months ago and decided to house hack last month by renting out one of the rooms. 

The building has been extensively renovated by the prior owners in 2022 including new heat/ac, appliances, flooring, kitchens/bathrooms, roof.

My tenants will never have contact info for the owners.