Everything always takes longer and is more costly than projected.

I agree with @Ali Boone that turnkeys can be a great option for new(er) investors, particularly those with limited time and expertise to tackle more hands-on approaches.  

Related, you will want a contractor who is used to doing projects like this on schedule and on budget.

These larger projects are going to have a lot of steps.

One of the biggest risks I observe with flips and first time investors are instances where the project goes over budget or gets stuck in mud, can't sell and even worse the borrower doesn't have the credit profile to refinance out to a lower interest lending source if borrower is required to hold the property as a rental. 

I love house-hacking for Tampa Bay for a few main reasons: 1) great long-term outlook on appreciation; fundamentally strong market and growth projections, 2) diverse opportunities of house-hacks from luxury house hacks, cheap house hacks, room by room, STR, MTR, etc. 

Although we do have deals on the lending side that dont work but we are not forced into a position to take big loss's like we were when the banks were calling our loans.. this will happen in the DSCR world as all these folks are using same type of debt IE debt that can be called based on the terms of the debt or like you have seen with the syndicators that are talked about on BP max leverage bad debt things dont go right And you have cap calls or projects totally lost. 

Having a vision for future projects like the ones you mentioned are great, but learning the ABCs of RE with a small investment (initial down payment - since you only need 3.5%-5% down on a primary) is the best way to sharpen your skills.

I think working on getting liquid capital for these projects is step one for me.

John - Would love to hear more about your NC project as we have a good presence out there as well (1-Mars Hill, 1-Burnsville, 4-Hendersonville).