Current payment is $311 5 years left.

The smaller down payment would be extremely beneficial to me at this point in my life.

I'm planning a road trip to look at some select cities in Tennessee and North Carolina.

My other choices are to buy a turnkey out of state (which I find very interesting but scary at the same time since I don't know many people out of state) or to just keep saving until me and my serious girlfriend are ready to settle down into a house hack.What I would love to do is buy a one a family out of state for around 100K so that I can get started in real estate and also not have to put a huge down payment so that I still have the capital to do a house hack in the future.

There is absolutely no way you can verify the cash rent payments, not even when the seller presents you with verified receipts.  

I have about 2 months or so to come up with the down payment. 

We have a significant amount of equity in the property and would like to use the equity for a down payment on another property.

Looking to do cash out refi and take out about 300 - 400K for a down payment  to buy SFH for a primary residence.

If that number factors in maintenance, vacancy, capex reserves in addition to both principal/interest payments and the taxes and insurance I would definitely do the deal. $2580 of annual returns on a $0 investment is a hell of a return. 

If you wait to pay the license fee, you will have to send in your payment after you pass your exam and you'll be stuck waiting for your license for an undetermined amount of time.