Would keep a tighter grasp on budget and timeline with team.

The idea is to understand how to make the financing work on my end and come up with some budget then start approaching land owners with a set plan/offer to see if any of them are willing to sell.Need some creative ideas from some experts to help me understand how I could make something like this happen.

Learn how to budget, cut your expenses, and save.

Don't make your scope of work fit your budget.

Being a contractor himself helped bring down the rehab budget.

You need budgets and financials, so probably have to pay to get that done. 

You should look at Philadelphia as a whole, find properties within your budget that pencil out financially and on a weekend afternoon go by the properties that were working and (at first) keep notes on the neighborhood.

A great step to help you narrow focus, budget, etc will be to speak with an STR focused lender.. contact @Joseph Chiofalo he''ll be a very patient mortgage guide. 

Also, you need to budget for soft expenses.

The $60,000 renovation budget presented a clear opportunity to add value.