I’m taking a big (but temporary) pay cut in my move to SC (please withhold your judgment - it was a very carefully made decision).

With the market turning, they have cut headcount by something like 50% last I saw. 

You learn a lot and can cut out costs and save more for cash flow.

Whatever you can do to increase your savings or increase your income: cut out unnecessary expenses, work a side job, put money into a HYSA as opposed to a regular savings account earning 0.1% interest.

I just worked with an investor who had $5M in cash (he sold his tree-cutting business) and I was able to get him into 11 properties in AL and FL. 

We are outside of the standard build warranty, but are continuing to discover MAJOR corners cut, and getting repairs and pre-emptive fixes is costing us lot.We are estimating $20,000 in total expenses that we are going out of pocket for due to poor workmanship.

Why go with a hard money lender for a clean cut DSCR?

Should I consider a 1031 after one year to “cut my losses”?

Your best bet to find a BRRR deal (or even a flip deal) is to connect with off market resources (wholesalers, agents that specialize in this space), or to cut these people out and source deals yourself.

The framework for residential is fairly clean cut but I'm new to the commercial landscape.