No personal income/employment required. 

However, there are alternative methods to this.

I doubt they would qualify as independent contractors in this scenario so they would be employees and as such, require workers comp, employment taxes, etc.

I haven't heard about what type of rollout of employment is to be expected, but obviously with such rural areas we will see a  increase in developments in the county and increase in demand of higher-end homes along hwy 79 towards Memphis.

Jay, I'm in same position, I'm considered 1099 ( self employed).   $$ in the bank, but taxes won't support income.. lol. 

My wife and I are both employed full time, and are able to squirrel away about $1500-$2000/month into a savings fund we have set up to use for our first STVR property purchase.

Today I was speaking with a friend about maximizing cash flow on my rental properties and he came up with a BRRR method minus the last R and I thought it seemed like a good idea.I currently have 2 rental properties and both are paid for.One is a small house that I have about 15k into and it cashflows about 500 per month.The other is a quadplex that I have about 70k into and it cash flows between 800 and 1500 per month (one room is an airbnb).

He is my employer, and is self-employed in a similar situation.

I've been self-employed for the past year and my income has been good, but I don't have a history of income for previous years.

Found a property in beach area that is definitely overpriced (almost everything is) but with calculations of 70% occupancy high season and 50% low season , and other methods such as enemy method @lukecarl , the property STILL cash flows.