There is an applicant who is self employed and wanted to pay me 1 year rental in advance to resolve my concerns about his income.

In addition to real estate, I utilize my 401(k) at work to get the employer match,  I have Roth IRA accounts to have tax free growth, and a high yield savings for short term money. 

I am trying to buy a home & I have been pre-approved but the lender says that I will not be approved unless I show that I am either going to re-enlist or have a civilian job lined up for proof of income.The problem w/ this is that I cannot show proof of civilian employment because I do not have a job lined up nor do i plan to re-enlist.I have read online that I could provide the letter of intent to re-enlist, and just not follow through w/ it.

If you are going to be hourly or self-employed, then you do need 2 years of work experience.

I like cities with years of population growth a good college and multiple employment fields.  

I have saved up around $50,000 from part-time employment and side hustles.

@Kyanne Mader huge number of (cash) investors equals to huge number of speculators, which is not something I’d be confident in seeing as an positive indicator necessarily — My friend experienced it in one of the cities I mentioned above exactly like this, very bad memories.But I am very interested in learning the growth of employment opportunities (I.e., tech company moving into this area; or other economical development) with concrete examples; if that’s real, then the influx of residents will make the demand stable and real.

There are more than 26,000 military and civilian workers, making Tinker AFB is the largest single-site employer in Oklahoma and has an annual payroll of $1.8 billion (https://www.velocityokc.com/bl...) 

It is situated near major retail, grocery, and employers.

He can get her started, but you have no evidence she'll be gainfully employed and capable of maintaining the rent.Personal opinion: newly divorced people are at high risk of bad behavior.