If you're planning to finance with a traditional mortgage, you'll also need a steady income source showing that you can afford the mortgage payments and your expense to qualify for the loan. 

For example, is it better to buy in markets like Asheville or Greenville where they have already experienced substantial growth or invest where we are now where prices have not inflated but rather stayed steady? 

My goal is to become financially independent and earn a steady and recurring income stream from long-term, buying and holding of rental properties.

Option 3 isn't out of the question - sure it doesn't provide the highest cash on cash or return on equity - but it does provide easy steady income for the future.

For my background I am NH licensed real estate agent however I stopped doing it full time (after about two years) back in September when I took a full time job as Computer Tech (needed more steady income with a daughter on the way). 

It gets the job done, but I really want temperature control.

According to new information released by the National Association of Realtors, steady growth in the commercial real estate market is expected throughout 2017.

they are just as well built as any site built home, so I would argue that they are actually better quality because they are built in a temperature controlled environment. 

Until you have established steady profits for over a year, but typically two or three years, within your business specifically, then everything will be referenced with your personal credit.

I am currently a broke college student with nearly no spending money, nor a steady job.