Open to any other methods of narrowing down to a city/location choice. 

3. being that i am transitioning from one state to the next which would be a good idea: A. move to Georgia, get employed get a lease and once my lease is up seek Real Estate investing once the lease is up? 

We are looking to execute the BRRR method with this property and have 6 months to refinance the property as we are on owner financing for that period of time.

As an employer sponsored retirement, the 401(k) requires a business that is generating earned self-employment income. 

It's the clean method, but it is also complicated and expensive.The practical method is what you had in mind: split it 3-way.

If you don't ask for too many documents (lenient screening process) you can find a tenant way faster than if you ask for things like; credit score, employment verification, pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, etc.

@Brian Corbett I know very little about Greenville but if it has any compelling growth drivers such as big employers moving in or a burgeoning tourist area, I would definitely be interested in hearing more.

The government pays you the rent, not the renter.A second option is going a little slower and doing the BRRR method to get them 100% financed.

You'd need to wait months or years to pull out a good gain unless you do a stellar rehab.Any method of investing carries risk.

I may even soon be able to take advantage of expense free housing provided by my employer, which will help to further work towards my goals.