As population grows, housing demand increases, driving rents higher.Rapid and Sustained Appreciation: Not all cities with growing populations appreciate rapidly.

Or find a deal first then market it to buyers, then offer on the house and create an agreement with the seller & buyer?

Quote from @Duane Williams: We’re a family-owned fix-and-flip company operating in San Antonio, TX, and Northern Virginia, managing everything in-house—from wholesale acquisitions to rehab & construction (with our own project managers and crews) to listing & selling through our licensed brokerage. 

Does he want to use the house?

I would also mention that once you have invested in Utah, I recommend the Utah Rental Housing Association as a resource.

I house hacked then rented it out after a year.

It has two units, but the house is only a legal one family, looking to possibly purchase it and live in one of the units and rent out the other, one as a Airbnb or just as a regular rental would need to get some kind of financing to make this purchase by being only a legal one family a conventional mortgage I think would be out of the question.

If you want less leverage simply put down the funds you would use to pay down the 6.4% rate on the new property so you are at say 60% loan to value on the new house.

Since you mentioned that you are getting started, I highly suggest you house-hack (this is how I got started in Costa Mesa, Orange County).

I have a seller who wants to sell a house that is worth roughly $830K.