It's never too early to start networking and building a solid team in your prospective market, especially if you're considering investing out-of-state.

Would love to connect with you, we love working with private money lenders who are looking for a solid return.

I grew up in small town and understand the frustrations.

It also matters what budget tier you exist within a market - like the $ - $$$$ for restaurants, we intuitively understand the general experience and price point based on those dollar signs.

I'd like to continue house hacking, but because I'm a real estate agent on 1099, I need a solid plan to generate more income to help with qualification.

However, if your market is not very friendly towards investing/flipping, there are plenty of solid markets throughout NC, several in SC and a few in GA too.

It's a good idea to work with a CPA who understands self Directed Retirement accounts and I definitely recommend you check with a CPA before you do a Roth Conversion so you know the tax implications. 

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.

So am I understanding this correctly. 

As others have commented - DSCR Loans tend to be a great solution for people in your exact scenario - fed up and tired of giant hassle and paperwork for conventional or bank financing - not worth the often pretty small benefit in rate or terms.Check out this article I published last year on BiggerPockets on what to expect documentation wise for DSCR Loans - they have become a nice blend between solid underwriting and doc sets needed, but not too much (and not too little like notorious "no doc" loans)https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/what-documents-do-you-nee...