Since less people are into owning their own homes, developers have been building these huge complexes with just enough perks to push for rents that most locals won't pay... unless they are either older and do not want the house maintenance costs anymore, or if they are younger buy from the city where moving further out seems like a better rent.Side note: I've dubbed Long Island as the land of illegal apartments.

I am seeking to acquire some rental property, ideally multi family.

The Sub-2 to Lease Option plan is a good and creative plan, but ideally to make it work great is to get a real cheap house sub-2, fix it up, and refinance it/re-title it to your name so you can completely control the property and equity. 

Is that ideal or should I put myself in a better spot financially before making any moves?

Ideally you would have learned a lot.  

@Kevin Jones Hey Kevin, I used to do some development and investing and now I am mostly focusing on agency.

There has been a lot of development here in the last few years and a lot of tech jobs coming to the area. 

That being said, a large developer may have to update or put some money toward roads and traffic safety in order to get approvals.

Some investors bank on the value of a property going up if there's development aka gentrification going on near the property but that's still very risky.

I recently came across a HUD (US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development) home in an area of NY I've been searching.