A short-term rental with a stay of 7 days or less + Material participation =also non passive.

@Adam Newman Like @Matthew Drouin says, a gift would be ideal, but short of that, do you have someone that could "invest" in this house hack with you?

To make a long story short, for one property you are not going to save $ in the long run and realize materials can take 6-16 weeks to arrive. 

Out-of-state investing makes the most sense for me—it’s impossible to cash flow anywhere near me, and moving wouldn’t make sense because I wouldn’t be able to earn the same wages or find the same kind of jobs.Before this purchase, I already owned two properties: a long-term rental outside Houston, Texas, and a short-term rental in the Sierras in California.

It seems like I need to check further away from the DMV area.My feelings are if you want “cash flow” you should buy a bond (I really like the tips rate right now) there is next to no reason to buy real estate for cash flow, if you are going to buy you should buy with appreciation in mind, which is not to say that’s the route I’d go, I’ve been liquidating properties to put in stocks and money market funds over the last few years and u just did the math and I’ve come out well ahead, but just to say there are arguments for stocks/bonds, there are arguments for levered appreciation, but the cap rates pretty much anywhere aren’t worth it vs an inflation protected bond, especially since a 3/rd of inflation is real estate anywhere, you could get “cash flow” and inflation protection much easier through a tips.

Over time, I’d like to expand into short-term rentals, buy-and-hold properties, and flips.I’d love to connect and learn from this amazing community.

Will you use the HELOC as a short-term bridge, or plan to hold it longer?

If it's not feasible due to circumstances I suppose I'll have to adjust my situation (find weekend job, move back to NJ with parents, move to a different state with, etc.)All responses are appreciated, and I am absolutely open to chatting on the phone by the way.My view on house hacking is it can be a great tool to buy a house you could not  otherwise afford, but it shouldn’t be a goal in it of itself if that makes sense and that’s not to discourage you from investing just there are alternatives such as the stock market. so I’d start by asking where you want to live, do you want to own a single family home or does it make more sense to rent in a more interesting neighborhood like Arlington, Alexandria, that’s gonna be a personal choice, Will your monthly payment actually be less than renting/how many people do you need to get in the house to afford that?

Therefore, if you look at history, real estate has continuously performed in an upwards fashion while, like any other investment, has experienced short lived corrections from time to time.

I think the area is short on larger (4-5 Bedroom) homes that can really accomodate a whole family.