I'm not sure if you are familiar with the sports above, but you are attempting the equivalent of skiing Corbets Couloir, mountain biking Portal, or kayaking a Class 5 rapid on your first attempt. 

Hello Grand Rapids investors.

However, the rapid influx of new residents, coupled with insufficient housing inventory, has driven prices skyward, making homeownership increasingly unattainable for many.

I'm located in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area and am open to properties basically anywhere in southern Michigan (anything south of Muskegon from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron is fair game imo.)I now have a fairly large nest egg of cash beyond all of my other investments (stocks, bonds, treasuries, crypto) and I want to turn that cash into a real estate investment or investments and I think my deep background in tech, systems, and marketing should be able to help me substantially.It seems to me like BRRRR on multifamily units makes the most sense, but I'm open to suggestions.I'm basically retired at this point as the only work I do each week is 3-4 hours of consulting for larger tech companies and I'm on a couple advisory boards.What are the best first steps in building a team and creating the systems necessary to start making deals?

From there every 20 point increment affect pricing differently.

My wife and I plan on moving to Grand Rapids in the next couple of years.

If income grows faster than rent then the home appreciation can still accelarate rapidly especially when city inventory is reducing....Also the very basic component of home appreciation is money being circulated and not primarily the income in that area.

Emerging Markets: Consider emerging markets where property prices are expected to appreciate rapidly due to economic growth and development.

For example, if the market rent on the duplex unit you'd like to occupy is $500/mo, you can go rent another similar unit for $500 (-$500/mo on your personal bank account) and rent out the units owned by your Solo 401k (+$500/mo for your Solo 401k).As you can see, -$500 and +$500 equal the same net effect in the short term, but long term, you'll accumulate wealth more rapidly because when you go to reinvest the cashflow from the 401k-owned unit you were going to occupy (but rented out instead), the tax benefits of full reinvestment will add up faster.How do I pay the returns back to the 401(k)?

With lots of room these areas are growing rapidly with lots of appreciation.