If the home meets that qualification, then I usually run the true numbers through the rental property calculator to get a closer idea of the real cost and benefits.Using this method if I was interested in a house that cost $52K, it'd have to be rentable at $520/month.

I have spent the last 20 years living in Los Angeles and NYC, but am interested in exploring a much more diverse list of potential cities for "early retirement" (i.e. a place to live when I no longer require traditional employment). 

If you're asking about which method is better @Chris Montalvo, I think that would depend on the profit you are looking to gain.

If you want to invest in small town New Zealand your primary driver needs to be employment and population growth.

I would appreciate any suggestions on better methods and a variety of ways to find better tenant buyer prospects.

I'm currently active duty army and I want to start investing in real estate, I'm leaning more towards the BRRR meathod but I love the idea of rehabing houses and making something beautiful out of them. I am getting ou...

So from a tax rate perspective, let's round off to 15% Fed, 5% state and 15% FICA (self employed pay both sides of it).

If you have a 457 plan with past employer - you can roll it over into self-directed IRA.

Would it make more sense to purchase one property like a cash deal, purchase multiple properties with the private money as the down payments using the BRRRR method, or purchase a property using all of the private money as a down payment(then probably BRRRR with it)? 

I think we're looking into an area that we could force appreciation and refinance (we were thinking BRRR, but I have not done that method yet, myself).