One approach could be looking into house hacking, where you buy a property, live in one unit, and rent out the others to cover your mortgage.

Those alternatives don't exist today (generally) so you should be fine just saying its financed. 

This tells me two things: Obtaining a variance will be more difficult because there are already policy considerations in place intended to reduce density & (2) There is clearly an over supply of rental units in this area otherwise the overlay would not exist. 

You get to have renters pay off your mortgage and live rent free in most cases.

I wasn't really thrilled being forced to quickbooks online from desktop so I would like a different software for bookkeeping but need to retain my mortgage bank too. 

First get a job.Save enough for 3.5% down for FHA mortgage and buy a 2-4 family property.You can live in one unit and rent out the rest.

It’s looking like this will cash flow neg just with est mortgage payments plus insurance and taxes of $1100ish (after renovation), property management of $120.

I do mean 'Millionaire' not multifamily, but wish that one existed!

So in your example, buying a trackhoe might grow your business or create greater profit by eliminating some outside costs, or letting you take on bigger projects, or speeding up existing projects, etc (just an example).

Outside of real estate, I enjoy my kids, travel, exercise, wellness and I am also a former Financial Planner turned Mortgage Lender.