I have a number of clients moving in AL at the moment too, one of which is building numerous homes as a Build to Rent strategy, so worth exploring Birmingham and Huntsville.  

If you change your mind I am happy to plug you in with numerous referrals for lenders, attorneys, agents. etc.

Yes, majority of HML loans are to LLCs for numerous reasons, and if a lender chooses to loan straight to an individual there has to be a good reason.

I have been working on numerous revisions to the lease since they have moved in.  

Our plan now is to get bids from numerous contractors to scrap this structure and build a brand new 4/2 with about 1200 sq ft, and we're seeing bids around $85-$110/sq ft.  

Two things I note: the land leads I have gotten are either absolute junk, have numerous liens on them, or the owners want close to market value.  

@David SmithI have come across this numerous times.

We are looking outside of WA for rentals now due to the numerous laws that aren't very landlord friendly that appear to be coming down the pike.

If you are looking at the South, The Texas Triangle is probably the hottest market.

Find local meetups in your area that are real estate investment centric and anchor yourself to those groups, stay active on the forums here, and listen to various podcasts (there are too numerous to mention here, but find the ones that you connect with) Best of luck to you!