I did limited research where to move, but I absolutely knew we didn’t want to live in IL and pay ridiculous property taxes ($850 p/mth, 2,200 sq ft home).

I sometimes drive in excess of the speed limit.

Its a quick 2 day in-person class if you do the 1st part as self-study, and there are plenty of 100% brokerages here that just charge you $50 or less per month to hang your license with them.

Get those CCs paid down, and you'll also potentially earn higher credit limits on those existing cards (a good rule of thumb is to keep your utilization lower than 30% of your limit which, if done consistently, can boost your credit score). 

Here they have overages if you go over your limit in terms of how much you can download.

Based on the case I just learned about regarding the three-year time limit to file an ejectment a lawsuit, I am concerned about any recourse.

Obviously, you want to buy quality assets with limited risk and foreseeable upside.Given the universe of house hacking options though, a duplex would not be high on my list.  

My question is should I use all the money that I can get pre-approved for or use a formula using expected cashflow along with my income to determine what my buying limit should be?

ColorsWhite is frequently the default for small spaces, but don’t limit yourself.

There are other limitations such as 20% of your taxable time (excluding capital gain).Your QBI cannot be more than 20% of your taxable income (excluding capital gain).