There are a lot of places that stand to grow significantly over the next couple of decades but that are still affordable enough for learning/growing stage investors.

You will appreciate what a couple of month of effort and education can do for your credit with very little financal output.

Or should I wait it out a couple of years until I have a larger amount saved up.

A couple problems dividing a property and selling in a “Timely” manner and then picking exchange properties of equal or greater value than the lots you sale.  

You'll still need enough income and DTI ratio to buy another property in a couple years even with this rental income.

I've done a couple of direct loans, but for the most part, I work with a mortgage broker who brings deals to me.

One workaround could be keeping a separate spreadsheet to track your adjusted tax basis accurately and only using Stessa for operational insights.You could also reach out to a cpa and see if they have a specific recommendation for software to use.  

A couple of Roof claims due to storm damage in Tucson, and we had several sub-to deals in Oklahoma when grapefruit size hail decimated a big section of the whole town. 

The seller has the two lots legally separated, but due to deed restriction imposed by the subdivision development, found that building a house on the “tennis court” lot was not allowable. 

I don't want to get into specifics but we passed on the property for a couple of reasons you mentioned.