Therefore i try to put as much as I can in my SEP IRA in order to lower my AGI.

I would encourage you to continue buying  as much as you can in Indy ... especially since you have some familiarity with the market.Live where you want.

I've been devoting most of my free time learning as much as I can in general business and real estate. 

You can't force appreciation in a 3-family like you can in 5+.

Do everything you can in this phase to be the best CEO you can be.

In other words, the incentive structure breeds a sort of tenacity and grit.

My current plan at this time is to remain at my job I have now and save up as much as I can in a 1-2 year period, I will then try to see what kind of deals I can get and actually go into the business.

@Gabriel Lamb,My biggest suggestion would be to go to every Open House you can in the target area.

I've been trying to read as much as can in order to make this first investment successful, and I would love to meet anyone else in the area who would be willing to share their knowledge with a motivated newbie trying to dive into their first investment property!!

He feels bad about miss bidding and understands that he is my contingency plan so yes he’s working to save on subs, he did all of the HVAC rough, the electrical, it’s framed up, he is blocking in the windows and doors we don’t want and subbing whenever he can in other words we are tight and that’s how he plans on getting the fronted money back to me.