Roads, water/sewer, city services, heck even just the planning for such is not a simplistic thing for all. 

During the partnership, you can jointly manage the property, increase its value, negotiate a flexible repayment plan with the seller that allows for larger payments after the property appreciates, ensure a written agreement that clearly specifies repayment terms and timeframes and refinance, and the sellers are able to 1031 at their leisure? 

do you plan to live in that property?

If you do a furnished LTR you will still have to worry about your furnishings and possibly consumables/linens if you plan on providing that sort of thing. 

You want to focus on markets that work with your plan and also where you have a personal connection with someone, even if you build that on the internet.

You need to minimize upfront expenses because 100% of your investment is at risk and lost if the lot is not buildable.My favorite strategy is to locate the property and tie it up for usually no more than $100 for a period of 8-12 months, analyze it myself and if I believe it to have a chance at being buildable I create a permitting plan and market the property to other investors/builders willing to take on the permitting risk.  

My boyfriend and I plan to move to Carbondale, Illinois at the beginning of next year.

To simplify the existing lease I thought about asking the tenant if they would be ok modifying the addendums to get rid of the resident benefit package and the building protection plan. 

With the current mortgage rate constraints affecting how many buyers are willing to enter the market we are seeing a lot of borrowers have success with the BRRRR strategy with plans to sell in the next 3-5 years when interest rates go down.Researching potential LTR and STR rental amounts and seeing if holding for a few years is a viable option is a good analysis to do well. 

So, I'd like to get ahead of the game and start working up a plan and a strong argument for it which I can use when the time comes.