In your situation, it sounds like the primary focus for you is more a quality of life play (reducing your commute time), and the STR may allow you to break even cash flow wise? 

At that point I might be considered to be engaging in brokerage with my role reduced to a "lead generator" for my contacts/employers, the Buyers, who are essentially paying me a finders fee.

You can often hire them at a reduced rate.

While DSCR loans focus more on the property's cash flow than your personal income, most lenders will still require a personal guarantor to reduce their risk.Keep in mind that DSCR loans typically come with higher interest rates than conventional loans, which is the trade-off for the easier qualification process.

:) Hi, first post herewhy would you want to refinance the 203k loan, would refinancing to the standard FHA mortgage reduce the interest rate or something?

Diversifying involves buying multiple properties to reduce risk and increase rental income.

So any advice would be extremely precious for us to leverage some past lessons and experiences from the veteran investors here to reduce our risks of investing.

Appears best way for me to reduce my commission costs is to reduce my Roth balance by 10% each year.  

If you are, I recommend buying a small multifamily and house hack to reduce your largest living expense while building equity.I recommend talking to a lender (i can connect you with one) about the income fluctuation and see how much you can qualify.Your best bet is to get a owner occupied loan with 30 yr fixed rate.

.- with DCA strategy, we could reduce market volatilty, while idle money can be saved at 5% saving accont.- my biggest complain to 401k is actually not the employer matching, but lack of diversfication where I can receive high cash flow with low beta structured portfolio.- for example, although SPY lost 28% their value in 202, but as total return, my portfolio is flat because my dividend income is offsetting the market gain losses.- what I am trying to say is that, if you are a "professional fund manager", you could create your set of portfolio that could beat the market , in this situation , the 401k is even less important.