Financially it only makes sense to invest remote if you have a sufficiently large economic delta between the market you live/work and Milwaukee.

Will be difficult because you currently live in the property . is the 2nd unit livable and just looking to renovate ? 

Buy a property when it feels good is when you are buying your primary home where your kids will grow up and you'll live with your family.

I live in California but am looking to invest in Texas, Alabama.  

You can't rent out a PO box and live there.And yea that sounds like a huge red flag to me. 

This requires 10% down and you typically just have to live in the property for 14 days out of the year.

Note that water penetration is not limited to flooding from rising water levels on the ground in a weather event.

Me and my partner moved from Utah to Maryland for school recently and we have a townhouse that we are looking to rent. we are currently remodeling and changing a few things before renting. what are the first steps to change my primary to a rental I lived there for about two years.

A couple of years ago, I worked with an investor who never updated the contact information for the loan and the Bank call the seller (ex-wife), that day she was mad at her ex-husband and told the bank her ex allowed someone to steal their property from them and they got no money, she was kicked out of her house and there were strange people living there.This could all have been avoided if the investor did this process correct.Get educated, also I do not know your attorney but not many attorneys have the knowledge to do this process correctly. 

House hacking is an incredible way to live affordably while building wealth through real estate.