Is that common practice?  

Your best bet would be to contact a local bank where the mobile home park is as they're more likely to lend compared to a nationwide bank not familiar with the area. 

While I'm learning a lot of about the investment side, please use me as a resource on Fair Housing best practices and risk mitigation (disclaimer: not an attorney!).

I think a townhouse in West midtown could be the best bet for you to house hack of sorts.

That's definitely unique and I bet a lot of people could benefit from something like that.Happy to connect if you are ever down in the city.

If you don't have that comfort level, having a professional is always a safe bet but could delay your ability to get under contract quickly. 

But would it be bad practice to already get to know sellers beforehand?

What're some best practices when looking for a sponsoring broker or at least one that will "supervise" me at the start?

I bet the drivers would appreciate being paid upon completion of the task as well. 

At this point in time, I would rather bet on a rental bounce locally (not necessarily in the city) based on a post-covid recovery, rather than perpetual shrinking cap rates in those hot out-of-state markets (given that cap rates here are potentially equal or better than those other markets atm, and we may be headed into a higher interest rate environment).That's not to say other markets won't make people money.