Personally, I would hang on to the cash.  

Living in one unit and renting out the others allows you to deduct 75% of expenses like mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, and shared repairs as rental expenses, while the remaining 25% applies to personal use.

Ask your employer if you can have your pay split up into three deposits, one to investments savings, one to your checking account for personal use on a daily basis, and one to an emergency account you can tap into so you don't have to tap into your investment savings.

I personally will try to avoid buying a home under 1000 square feet again.

You need to make sure you're working with someone whose sending you personalized deal flow that actually meets your buying criteria.

they're not magic.are you going to in-person / informal meetups? 

I’m not a former IRS person.

If an in-person visit is not feasible, we can easily arrange video tours to accommodate your schedule.

Affordability for the average person is essential, in my opinion. 

I've done enough personal home projects to know, if I find a deck company it'll be 2k, but a GC will charge me 2.5k to over see it...