I know about short term capital gains taxes, but also know about the self employment tax.

If there is constant growth in the Bay Area and in the alternative market (say, both markets grow by 10%/year), then you will be losing out by waiting longer to buy in the Bay Area rather than gaining an advantage.If you have the means, I would recommend that you bite the bullet and buy where you want to live. 

Sell now while the gain is tax free and move on. 

BRRRR means that the profit is there both to be had in equity gain in the renovation, and also on the rent side. 

I’m excited to learn, gain experience, and build meaningful relationships with all people within the aspects of real estate in my area.

He told me if I can get my FL license and gain access to the MLS, he'd bring me on as his agent and I could make more from his transactions than from my W2 job in 2022. 

If the money is spent on "repairs" making the house more usable, it'll probably be a higher return than painting the walls a different color and installing new lights.Many remodeling projects will have no net gains in property value so be careful how you spend the money.

In the end, you are using lazy money to invest in real estate, making two returns on one dollar, getting tax benefits so you are likely not paying tax on your distributions or gains and investing in real assets that produce cash flow. 

I found my own investing sweet spot by investing passively as a limited partner in a syndicate where I get all of the benefits of real estate investing (cashflow offset by depreciation, leverage, appreciation, long term capital gains, ability to 1031) and in addition I get to leverage a professional team. 

Looking for a South Carolina CPA who is investor-friendly and can assist in the following areas:Buy-Sell AgreementsBusiness Sale strategies (long term capital gain spread out over 5-10 years, etc)Solo 401(k) plans filing 5500 formsPro-Active Strategies, not just tax preparationThanks for any help you can give, needs to be licensed and familiar with South Carolina.