So we’ve got a tiny yard and we are in a cash position to possibly try to acquire our neighbors’ lot without needing a loan.

THAT is the magic number.Imagine you have wreck. small tiny little shack in the most expensive area of the state.

What lead you to our tiny city of under 200K people?

You'll start to learn the shorthand of ARV, CoC, ROI, cap-rate, etc. pretty quickly.I think most of the language around "where to buy" is a lot easier to understand:  job growth, population growth, average household income, unemployment, school district quality, crime heatmaps, blah...blah...blah...  

By the time you factor in insurance, taxes, PM, vacancy, CapEx, repairs, utilities that tiny amount of rent usually isn't enough to keep the thing a float.

I a a room in my house set up as an office, but I also use that office for my personal stuff (such as paying the household bill), for homework (I am in college), and for answering posts such as yours. 

Things to maybe look for I've learned could be:  household income, median home price, job growth, industries, school/education ranking, percentage of renters in area, unemployment rates etc. 

POPULATION 1 MILE 5 MILES 10 MILES TOTAL POPULATION 1,857 45,944 194,648 MEDIAN AGE 45.3 41.1 45.6 MEDIAN AGE (MALE) 44.0 40.0 44.8 MEDIAN AGE (FEMALE) 46.6 42.0 46.4HOUSEHOLDS & INCOME 1 MILE 5 MILES 10 MILES TOTAL HOUSEHOLDS 775 17,852 79,799 # OF PERSONS PER HH 2.4 2.6 2.4 AVERAGE HH INCOME $50,353 $57,011 $56,327 AVERAGE HOUSE VALUE $174,711 $257,379 $232,066

But the Magical options where a tiny sum of money becomes a large sum & the deal is contingent on the parties "helping each other out" will get struck down. 

Other than minor children everyone in the household has to be all "owners" or all "tenants") Probably not enforceable.