I have great credit 750+ but am not sure if it is ideal to just pay cash or to get a loan.Anyone been in a similar position? 

Ideally for the best fannie/freddie the loan amount will be $1mm+.  

You just have to calculate that into your projections as a cost of doing business.I suppose, ideally, you could get your license and go through your own broker for the sales contract and legal support in purchasing your properties.

I deal with old plaster demo and asbestos etc, and today I ran out of masks.

Right now I have the flexibility of building it out to suit my needs(within reason).  

Things come up as a landlord, and ideally you shouldn't be coming out of pocket to pay.

If we do sell and for a good profit, ideally we'd close after the 2 year mark to avoid capital gains tax. 

After you demo it there's no house as collateral only land value, plus I'm reading this post as you're going to build and sell, not build to live in that's mortgage fraud in my opinion but I don't deal w/ too many lenders that's not my strong suit.

A house-hack deal would be ideal for a first investment as it will allow you to get your foot in the door with a low down payment.Best of luck to you moving forward!

When you offer yourself as a lender, there will be all sorts of people that will come up to you, but ideally you would get to know the person that you are lending to.