More specific: He stole months of rent and utility payments from a tenant (and threatened to evict her!)

I most definitely 2nd getting the utilities mapped first before digging.  

Thank you in advanceDepending on tree type might be able to trade or sell for the workCost for all utilities and street will vary depending on the type of road you will have inverted or crowned. - how many catch basins you will need, hydrants   - etc.Very important you must utilize both sides of the road to maximize your effective cost for the road and utilities when building.

My question is - what is the best strategy for utilizing my home equity and buying my first rental?

All utilities are at the street. 

If you can live for free and only pay utilities AND buy an investment property, that would be ideal in terms of savings and cash flow.If you can't stay and your parents want to make some money on that property, then yes, house hacking would be your best option especially since you don't want the best place in the multi.

Hey everyone currently active duty military I would love utilize my va loan for investment  purposes don’t know where to start  in GA btw 

Now for my out-of-pocket expenses:Down payment: $7500 (Hard money loan 90% purchase price 100% rehab)Closing costs: $6500Inspection: $400Agent's commission: $5200 (didn't raise purchase price of house with seller concessions, so that money didn't apply to the commission sadly. won't make this mistake again)Holding costs: $1300 (one interest-only payment of $770, roughly $200 in utilities and $360 in insurance)Total: roughly 21 grand. 

Utilities are absent.

I have $100k in cash to utilize to buy a long term rental property.