Looking at pure population growth, I believe Texas is the largest net gain winner for 2021, followed by Florida.

I am currently in our first house hack (eastern NC) and its a base hit ( Duplex/ found on MLS/tenant is paying half/ with repairs we are looking at around 100 PURE cash flow per unit) Seems like you have the drive but now its time to hyper focus on the strategy you'd like to do and execute.

After that the cash flow is pure profit.

Otherwise I wouldn't suggest investing purely for MTR.

We almost came close to buying the Blink XT-2 cameras but then the reviews on YouTube mentioned that the batteries don’t last for more than a couple months at a time.

Also, do you have to live in the property to get the tax exemption (so purely investment properties wouldn’t qualify)?

Purely from the investment perspective, you might have done this, do look into the sellers’ actual, detailed rental records and financial reports since it’s not a small investment.  

The utility payment question is purely based on the property.

My biggest complaint with iPhone is battery life.

Our pure cash flow is a little over $200 a month, the number Brandon Turner suggests for sfh, so I call that a win.