I know there is no one right answer and some variable, but looking for ideas/advice. 

The idea is simple: purchase a property, live in one part, and rent out the rest to offset your mortgage or even generate profit.

If so they may have a real estate license or they may work with an agent that relies on repeat business rather than a one-off purchase. 

Over the past 15+ years in this business, i have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

This is a business.

I have an idea of an initial investment and returns I would like to hit, but would love to speak with those of actual experience to see if my numbers are realistic.

When the whole covid shutdown occurred, I dropped out of college to help my father's service business maintaining and remodeling residential and commercial buildings.

0% Business credit cards + hard money loan = 0 money out of pocket.

So if you are in a 30% combined tax bracket you get an additional $3K due to write offs.If it is a rental, you can write off the business expenses and the depreciation on the non land valuation. 

I'm going off the understanding that you still need to spend 500+ hours in the business to achieve material participation (please correct me if I'm wrong).