Couple that with the tax write-offs and what not, it sounds pretty promising. 

How can I know if the timeframe the contractor has promised is doable?

Further, the appraiser told me he has to go by local comps- which in the rural location of our farm isn't promising since very little turnover happens unless someone dies. 

But I've seen tenants promise all week long and the move out without paying a penny the day before eviction.

Would you want someone to pull a fast one on your mom, sister, best friend---LIE to them--promise to buy---and then walk away if they cannot assign?

Hire a professional; I promise you, it'll be worth it.

It sounds like you are pretty new so you ideally want an inspection contingency that you can cancel the contract up until the date of closing although it isn’t ethical to lead a desperate seller on with the promise of a quick sale if you don’t have the cash to close.

Second-- NOT to be snooty (I promise), but so you have the value of sounding like you belong when working around the Real Estate teams of your tenant:  a commercial rental rate is an annual rate. 

Like you, I'm trying to get involved in apartments now - but as someone _very_ familiar with your area - I promise you you can get started faster for well under $100k and not lose out on X more months/ years of opportunity cost waiting-while-saving. 

After analyzing several deal in my area, I came across on that seems promising.