Seems like there is blood in the water?

These types of industrial employers often require short-term, furnished housing for contract workers.- Tennessee Technological University: As a large university in Cookeville, TTU likely generates demand for furnished rentals from visiting professors, researchers, and other academic staff.- Tourism and Hospitality Businesses: Some local forum post mention that Cookeville has a strong tourism and hospitality industry, which could drive demand for furnished short-term rentals and extended stay hotelsI also checked to see what other listings are available and found about 4 comparable listings ranging from $1300-1500/month.

Actually, they took the dictionary definition and broke up each of the requirements as if they were different ways to invest.

Check around, as they might also require a ton down.  

They will do the price shopping for you and find the based vendor based on your requirements. 

In fact, proposal #2 will require the home seller to go buy another home to live in (no tax credit for that, since it’s not their “first home.”)

I'll try to be helpful and concise here without being too long-winded...ESPP - Typically you buy this at a discount (Usually 15%) typically you get beneficial tax treatment on the discount and won't have to pay income tax on it as long as you hold it for their required holding period.

Would it require you to change your lifestyle? 

You may consider looking for seller's that will consider seller financing that may not require as large a downpayment. 

i.e. if you had a $190,000 hard money loan on House 1, you'd be able to get 80% LTV no problem with no seasoning requirements as rate-term refi