I don't know if this is typical.In rental properties they have come and made lists of things to correct windows sidewalks.

If not, I would recommend learning more about what that means for property maintenance, additional costs like snow removal, and to protect yourself from things like tenants slipping on icy sidewalks, etc.

Can you put some stepping stones in the gravel from the sidewalk to the front door?

new electric service at 2 houses, new heat pump at 1 house, new kitchen and bath at one house, 3 houses extensive landscaping, one concrete sidewalk (municipal cited), carpenter ants, major mold job, minor mold job, major fire damaged house, major sewer backup, storm blown down large tree..... just an average year.One time I had a fire, flood and explosion all in one year!

The sidewalks are like 14" wide.

I would have someone scrape the grass back off the sidewalk where it's overgrown, for the whole block across the street and on the lot.

Looks to me like some are here:Street after street after street after street including side streets'City of a Thousand': Downtown Phoenix's tent city explodes at alarming ratePHOENIX - Located within a pocket of streets and sidewalks in downtown Phoenix, the homeless crisis has exploded as there are more than a thousand unsheltered people living on the streets in this area known as "the zone."

A little peeling paint, cracked window, uneven sidewalk, wobbly handrails and a thousand other little items will cause the loan to fail. 

A Civil Engineer will be able to tell you what will be required in the way of utilties installations, curb, gutter, sidewalk, fire hydrants, etc.Once you have all that information, you will be in a better position to move forward.If you're not experienced, you definitely want to find someone that has done it before and can manage the project for you, as any mistakes can be very costly.In hot markets, there's probably developers out doing the same thing, and land will be hard to find.

Imagine if a window unit falls out because of a poor installation and hits somebody on a sidewalk.