There seems to be an abundance of townhomes on the market in those parts of Raleigh and with us having experience living in townhomes and dealing with HOAs we feel that property type is the safest first investment for us.Some specific questions: What parts of Raleigh and Durham are seen as up and coming and realistic given our goals?  

Whether it's access to industry-specific webinars, curated reading materials, or specialized workshops, Subto provides an abundance of tools to aid in personal and professional development.

Also, while there were suitable house hack properties on the market in my area, there wasn't a huge abundance of properties that I felt like fit what I wanted.My criteria at the time were: I wanted to buy a 2- to 4-family property (4-family properties were a lot more rare) in a safe (low crime) neighborhood and a good school district.

There is an abundance of information that you can learn here. 

I work as a Transactional Lender and I have access to a abundance of Private Money Lenders ready to take a look and fund your deal asap as long as it’s a good deal!

I hope to create a property management company with 80-200 units under management, buy and hold a personal portfolio of small multifamily properties, and generate approximately 10k per month in cash flow with each business so that I can focus on educating young people in money management, philanthropic action to benefit the communities around Boston and Worcester, and have an abundant life with the ability to spend ample time with my family.

One thing you may want to look is single family with ADU, there're abundant of those house type.

When we share with others abundance enters our life.

Bloomington, Champaign, and Peoria are all relatively large cities with an abundance of 2-4 and larger multi family buildings you would be able to house hack while you fixed the place up.

Start at the beginning, be productive using the resources you have in abundance, create value for others while building your accounts.Also, I second what @Nicholas L. has instructed.