Build a house that is suitable for the area and it will appraise accordingly.

They, however, did say an option could be to come up with a plan for a system that would dispose of sewage water to another area of suitable soil or off-site to an additional property.It's 2 lots, with one being a corner lot, in a subdivision, on a street with a cul de sac.

Alternatively, flipping mobile homes could also generate some good returns if done correctly but may not be suitable for someone with limited funds as it requires quite a bit of capital up front.

In his example, he uses a 14-day period to specify when a visitor would have to apply to become a tenant.

I would keep saving money and researching in the mean time as well as there is no telling how long it may take to find a suitable lender for you. 

@Kelly Curnalia sounds like they were doing short term rental periods for you and want to protect themselves from guest cancellation issues.You may want to ask them to confirm their accepted guest reservations and determine a more suitable termination period or try to renegotiate that clause.

So go file in small claims court (after a suitable amount of time has elapsed for them to have paid you) a suit against them. 

At this point, I'm most interested in buy-and-hold investment in rental properties, perhaps with a property manager given my day job (although I'm still learning more about the actual time and energy demands involved should one choose to personally manage his or her properties).I'm certain that at this point I don't even know what I don't know and that simply pulling the trigger will be the biggest step for me (once a suitable property has been found, of course), but what I don't fully understand at this point is how best to find investment-priced properties.

Are there a lot of visitors? 

I have one long term rental here in Missoula and I have an acquaintance here who is building on a lot in a hot part of town (for university folk and visitors) and I am trying to convince him to consider vacation rentals for at least one of the units.