Congratulations on embarking on the road to financial independence!

In a hot market, which we are and have been in, depending on the terms of your lease option deal, if prices back up and your tenant buyer cannot qualify in, say 2-3 years, and their is any equity in the deal for the TB and especially if they have paid you 2-5% as a "deposit" or "down-payment", this is a red flag, which could result in a lawsuit. 

You’ll simply need to focus on remediation in your own unit.If you have a local independent agent.

It's against the law every state because you're a licensed broker/agent/consultant and that is what you do for a living (you're an independent contractor) you're not working as an employee nor a contractor for the MLS. you'll have to run the fee's through your broker in order to stay legal and you may want to detail to your broker office what you'll be doing.If you own your own company then you'll know how to proceed.

Independent analysis have shown actual returns are as low as 1-2%. 

I have this Idea of taking a 20% withdraw for a down payment out of my 401k to avoid PMI costs and down the road to grow my properties to gain financial independence.

adds to our ever-growing suite of offerings that streamline the home selling and buying experience including Concierge.It bridges the gap in purchasing by covering the down paymentfunding escrowbringing a partial offer to a full-cash offerThey allow for up to six months of loan payments (including eligible closing costs) to be fronted by xxxx, an independent lender through an exclusive partnership with xxxx --> AKA: no out of pocket costs for a client for up to 6 months on any approved bridge loan.

This means they will close the first (AB) with independent funds, followed by immediately closing the second (BC).

-Any market you feel is better than Florida (I am independent of location)-What should be my first step?

You're discovering the first steps to Financial Independence while they're pissing away money!