The area where i live, land is very expensive.

Purchase price: $115,000 Cash invested: $42,000 Sale price: $168,000 Unfortunately, we bought this property as a buy and hold property, and our research led us to believe that this neighborhood was up and coming not in a bad area of Jacksonville.

In a dense area, such as in-town (city, dense suburb, etc) you should be able to find sales within a half mile. 

Instead of jumping into an expensive Long Island market with negative cash flow, consider investing in a Texas market like San Antonio, Houston, or DFW suburbs—these areas offer strong rental demand, lower property taxes than NY, and better cash flow potential.

I have family in that area. 

The big issue is building a single small residential unit is the most expensive residential development.Here is a list of why adding a single ADU in single family zoned areas in my CA market is typically a poor RE investment:1) The value added by the ADU addition is often significantly less than the cost of adding the ADU.

I'm in the Nashville area myself. 

All transaction/no relationship = A lending partner should understand their borrower, how the got into investing and what their overall goals are. A

I would like to do some type of loan or HELOC product to renovate the common areas and a few units. 

Buy quality properties in quality areas.