I figure people looking for jobs might need to sell fast, but won't necessarily show up on any of the other lists, thereby decreasing, or eliminating, my competition. 

Sell the stuff you dont use but like to keep there and eliminate that expense from your monthly nut.

And as a shrewd investor (especially one who is flexible and willing to move often) can reduce or completely eliminate this expense by "house hacking", following any of the options you mentioned or the other posts mentioned in this thread.

So this brings me to what ideas and questions i have: i am looking at a nearby new construction multifamily property (townhouse), where the area/location has great schools and convenient  to many amenities such as shopping and easy access to downtown.Also, this townhouse is a new construction property and should reduce or eliminate  my expense cost for the first couple of years due to warranties.  

@Ashton SharpTake a look at an amortization calculator it will give you a better understanding of when you can expect to reach 20% equity, get the property appraised (will cost around 500) and re finance out of the FHA thus eliminating the PMI.

Prices are high right now but still does not eliminate the opportunity to buy and hold just takes a little longer to find the right deal.

It's my understanding that to deliver a 'marketable title', the seller must eliminate the liens.

You could eliminate the school part but still need a solid high paying job to support investing.

There are many ways to pay PMI:- LPMI - lender paid MI which is a fancy term for taking a bit higher rate to absorb the cost of monthly MI for the life of the mortgage, depending on your credit score it may take .125%- .50% more in rate to absorb your entire premium for the life of your loan- BPMI single premium- similar to the above it eliminates the monthly MI premium for the life of the loan but BP part of BPMI stands for "borrower paid," so as you might have guessed the borrower pays this premium in a cash sum at closing either from their own funds or seller concessions they've negotiated from a seller or a gift from their giftors -BPMI monthly or split premium - MI can also be paid as monthly MI which is the stereotypical way to pay MI and it can also be paid as a split premium or hybrid whereby the borrower pays a good chunk upfront to have a greatly reduced monthly MI payment.Most people take LPMI and absorb it through the rate via LPMI to eliminate MI for the life of the loan. 

Net zero is trying to completely eliminate energy payments or energy input.