It really depends on which pockets of town you are looking into - as others have said before on other threads one pocket/neighborhood in San Antonio can vary greatly to another nearby so having boots on the ground sure helps you get a better idea of your tolerance and the surroundings. 

That's fine for them because most don't necessarily need more deals/doors at the moment, but if you're in a buying phase, waiting for a perfect opportunity will probably only set you further back.

Is it preferable to complete these transactions in phases or all at once.

I'm looking at purchasing a property that doesn't have a bathroom on the ground floor.

The cost of some of these goods and services (such as plane tickets), which fell sharply during the pandemic, are now recovering lost ground with a vengeance.

For an action alleging any grounds under sub section l. of section 2 [NJSA 2A;18-61.1], two months' notice prior to the institution of the action and, provided that where there is a written lease in effect no action shall be instituted until the lease expires;

We're still in the exploratory phase so still nailing down a strategy, but I think we're planning to start with SFHs that cost around 100K - and in an ideal world with the aim to buy one at a time while we get comfortable but hoping to scale up with a new place every 6 months or so until we have around 5.

Open lawn and wooded acreage, chapel, in-ground pool, basketball court, 3 smaller residences, and 2 large residence/dormitory buildings with kitchen, dining, meeting, and recreation facilities!

Additionally I had hopes of being able to complete the project for under $130 sqft for approximately 3500-4000 sqft of living space excluding the ground floor parking.

You could stand on legal/principal grounds that you are owed money.