You can certainly do what you proposed and move into the 4th floor, plenty of people do that with attic spaces or basements, the issue is it would be an illegal unit and you need to really understand your liability.

There are plenty of deals in every market to flips.

Then, move down with plenty in reserve, find a job and have a home/investment property already in place.

Thank you so much, got plenty to think about on this one!

I'm going to way overshare as it feels necessary and hopefully will provide plenty of context for my mission ahead.I'm a mid 40's guy south of Denver with an amazing family. 

You’ll find plenty of friendly, knowledgeable people willing to respond to your posts.The site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

Plenty of Owners/Investors are ineffective with properties in their own city, let alone from 1000 miles away.

I open up a credit card specific to the property and put all expenses that I can on that.Use an excel spreadsheet to teach expenses, there are plenty of templates around online, you can look for one you like to work with and modify it for your needs and to match IRS expense categories.

Paid off a ton of debt, saving, and wants to house hack sometime  next year - this is very realistic for him as he has plenty of income to qualify. 

Wishing you the best and plenty of success!