I'm not 100% sure about each one's different benefits and cons, but which method would you recommend to use if you were in my position?

You should always look for Tax-Deferred and Tax-free methods to Invest.

What alternative method(s) would you recommend for beginners? 

I ended up going with a market I had already been to, Huntsville, and learned to do long distance real estate investing as well as the BRRRR method.

Now let's look at Quality based on grade of wood.There are primarily two different terminologies and methods to grade Quality. 

This would be a VERY inefficient method and leaves me wanting to just send that list out to a different mailer service.What is everyone's thoughts?

Quote from @Brian Bowen: Is there a good free method or resource to find owner contact information?  

. - which I suspect you're already inclined to do.You can also investigate various methods of pipe replacement / renewal that involve trenchless technologies, such as pipe lining, pipe bursting, or directional drilling.

We did the BRRR method and house hacked. we lived in one unit and rented out the other.

Because those methods are fundamentally flawed.