Welcome @Chris Wood I admire you and your mother's story so much.

Our plan is to start with a house hack of either a 2-4 plex or a SFH with a mother-in-law setup and to BRRRR until we have a decent cash flow that can supplement our nomadic lifestyle.  

Possible sources of financing help such as my mother who lives in charlotte and has a good 6 figure job, and my father in law who lives in Ecuador who has expressed interest in investing money with me in the united states are likely to be on the table when I decide to get my first deal in order.We currently pay $1,700 a month for rent for a 3br,2ba house, and our lease is up in about 6 months.

A regular working class family that brings in an income of 200K/yr and lives in NYC will never be rich (Yes, in NYC that is working class, a fireman and nurse can easily pull in 200K). 

(Ceiling in the basement is 2” too low as is to rent as a separate unit and have rezoned)I’ve seen other buildings where they put in a stairway from the within the first floor unit down to the basement as a “mother in law suite” but this adds to the rehab and the rent won’t increase as much as having a 3rd separate unit in The basement.

I have a cousin who is a realtor and my mother still lives there.  

I am 22 years old and a recent graduate of Rutgers University.I have been helping out a local family with taking care of their elderly mother a few times a week for the past 6 years for very little compensation.

This past year, we lost my mother-in-law suddenly in August to a ruptured aneurysm at age 60, and soon after, my husband was hospitalized with pancreatitis for 10 days in September.

I'm looking towards student housing, military housing, and maybe housing for travel nurses?

If you have a family you could look into duplexes, or single families that have a natural dividing point (basement, attic, cottage, mother in law suite), to keep your space more private while still getting the benefits of House Hacking.