Pricing is going to be by MSA area, as always some will do better and worse than others. 

Investing in your own area when starting out gives you much better footing to do well when you are starting. 

In todays world there are much better options for the application process but there are LOTS of background/credit check companies on the internet that provide different services and have different pricing. 

Either we are handling our water resources exponentially better, or something is fishy out there politically. 

I think Underwriting requested gross income to better assess "loss of rental income".

Would I like the area to be better, sure, lol, it's not an A.

I found myself to be too eager to get my first property and would have been more successful if I had waited for a better fit.

So, should I try to house hack in/around Nashville- or move to a different market where I would be able to move quicker or have better opportunities.

However there are some areas of southern mesa that are in Gilbert school districts but are technically Mesa so they have better prices.

There's not nearly enough info in your post to say which is the better route.