My sacrifice… no haircuts and no fast food. 1 job full time, 1 full time side hustle. 0 debt at the time other than student loans.

Just completed my third self-storage conversion in October with my W2 job at Elm Builders.

It might be helpful to narrow down your options by focusing and researching for markets with strong rental demand, growing job markets, and property prices that fit within your budget.

We live in the bay area because this is where our jobs are and we have family in the area, but we prefer to invest in landlord friendly states.

Don’t quit your day job.

If it's on your credit, you are on the hook for it.However, it shouldn't effect the loan process too much, a simple Letter Of Explanation should be able to get the job done with the correct investor. 

I would like to get into the flipping game, buying a house in the market wherever she can get a contract in, and my full time job is to flip the house.

If they have excellent credit, great job history, great references and you met them and got a good feel. 

Also, did they run the current tenants through state databases looking for previous evictions?

Make sure the previous property management company did their job and communicated a change in management prior to you taking over--along with your contact information.If they have no done this, they should so the tenant doesn't feel like a scam may be going on.Just make sure they're away of where rent payments need to go and who they can contact in the future.