Account Closed I'd say with those 2 books you are ready to move onto next steps which is: networking with investors in  your area, find an investory friendly agent, and start getting your financials into order. 

This is a pretty good step in the correct direction. 

Again, we're non-judicial here in GA, so I may be skipping steps that are necessary where you are.

If the score is low and the person is young w student loans, are there other steps I can or should take to verify that this person would be a good renter?

I am currently taking my first steps in to the RE game.

I like this strategy as it's a nice intermediate step between reading/learning and having to go actually do everything without actually seeing how it's done.

In principle, you are correct also about doing eviction and all steps necessary, but I have a full time job and manage 22 doors, and its easier for me to find peace and save money in the process.

We’re considering an FHA 203k rehab loan, and are planning to self-manage initially.

Without getting into the nitty gritty details of this particular deal, I generally would like to do know what type of loan is best for the initial short-term loan in a BRRR deal.  

I'd probably find a structure that includes a step-down prepayment penalty and one that's based on 5 year structure (5,5,4,4,3,3,2,2,1,1) or something similar or better.