Does your HR department verify employment and income, or do they source it out to companies like the work number?

A Solo 401(k) is designed for self-employed persons who have full time employees. 

I thought about doing it, but I wasn't sure it was a common strategy or not

Unfortunately those have become common in this business. 

Here is what I would recommend:#1 Read the Book on Estimating Rehab CostsJScott's 'The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs' is a great resource for new rehabbers to learn how to Estimate Repair Costs on 25 common rehab repairs.https://www.biggerpockets.com/store/the-complete-g...#2 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material PricingTake a tour through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects.

It's common here in Austin for them to take care of that themselves anyways.

Now he obviously is a master in his craft and I am struggling to start, but what we have in common is a paid off home.

Pick an area you know well and have some peers that can look after it even if you decide to employ professional management.

We typically employ a week-long trial period during which we'll give them a single project (e.g., making 10 seller calls, or posting 3 houses for sale on Craigslist).We make sure to provide detailed instructions and give them crystal-clarity on what successful completion looks like, and then we turn them loose.At the end of the week, we'll assess their performance.

If you can only afford a one bedroom condo then put up some temp walls or create a wall with book cases, etc in the living room and turn the 1 bedroom condo into a two "bedroom" condo with no common area, then get a roommate for the actual bedroom.Then in about a year or two, rent out the condo and at that point maybe you are ready to qualify to buy a house that's in a good neighborhood and then you move into that.