If you focus on a fixer upper you can renovate in 6 months and refinance on the ARV.You only need to be at a 85% LTV to refinance and its not hard to build 15% equity in a property in this market enviroment. 

That's great to hear that you're graduating and you want to get into multifamily.I would start off in a commercial real estate firm, learn the systems, the sales/buying process, how to analyze deals etc...

Hence you can see how interest rates play a large role in determining cap rates in a market in my opinion. 

I’m starting to lean more towards private lending as a way to get my toes wet and get my money working for me in a relatively stable way.I’m looking for educational resources or literature.

@Shaheen Ahmed maybe look at this in a different way - where are you going to invest where property taxes are NOT an issue?

In a seller finance scenario and my new posed scenario can I get both parties to agree to let me start paying 3-6 months down the road after the rehab and I start cashflowing?

Reporting these expenses on your personal tax return (likely Schedule C for a sole proprietor) could result in a net loss that might offset other taxable income, reducing your overall tax liability.

But it could be just outside of Atlanta in a neighboring county.

I'm an LP in a Syndication where DLP is also involved. 

But in a market like yours, is there substantial difference between high and slow season rates?