Have you done any leg work to that effect? 

I am doing some work in SC.. from my perspective and that is from a West coast investor.. doing these deals in SC is a lot more work .. as title research is not on line like it is here.. so there is a lot of leg work to be done. there is competition in the bigger cities from those that do this.there is also a lot of title issues with owners there... if your buying at foreclosure auction actual courthouse steps.. the mortgage auctions from what I know are pretty much the same as any other area.. the tax auctions though those can get pretty fugly as you can't get title insurance with out quieting the title many times.so on courthouse steps mortgage stales.. junior liens are removed from property..

 $1,650/mo for the studios and $2,400/mo for the 2 bedrooms are pushing the upper bound of the market.  

Even if you're saying the market is so hot that fixer uppers aren't discounted, owner occupied buyers at the top of the market would have to be observing the same phenomenon, not wanting to do the work, and paying a bit extra to avoid taking the time and doing that work.  

What are some ways that you were able to start diversifying your income when you started out, and is there anything specific you would recommend for a college student that would give me the upper hand.

We are thinking about buying a fixer upper that we can stay in while we remodel it.We live in Houston, TX/Galveston, TX area and have 15K in cash, so we'll need a loan to finance the property.We have absolutely no construction experience and have never lived in a house, only rented apartments.Our GoalMake an overall profit.

Not sure about the plumbing etc. as I haven't seen the property but overall it is a definite fixer upper.

involvement with the non-profit JV and gain some leg up on REO bidding.  

He has made a number of changes which allow him to beat others in the race for lowest priced new homes in the upper midwest.The other possibility in the upper midwest that occurs to me is Harmony Homes  of Nappanee, Indiana which was a newer division of Fairmount which has been recently (2015) sold to Cavco.

You will need to do the leg work in finding the deal, of course, and will need to give 50% or more of the profit to your partner since they will be taking the entirety of the financial risk and will essentially be your mentor.