It is important to be cash heavy in real estate hence I would grab from the line and have a strong cash position if I were you.

A Stanford study revealed that over 75% of the ADUs built in San Jose between 2016 and 2020 did not have a permit and are therefore illegal housing units.The lengthy permitting process, high construction costs, and shortage of tradespeople are some of the factors motivating property owners and contractors to take on the risk of building, renting to tenants, and/or housing family & friends in an illegal unit.

I might have a better shot at it if build a portfolio of properties and sell them all together as a business.

Would I be able to leverage equity in that towards a build?

@Mohamad Guene  Simple answer - you will be cash flow negative, and your appreciation will be limited.We did a new build once for a rental - it performed miserably cash flow wise despite a great location and property - we ended up selling it 3 years later.There are very few new builds in Huntsville proper - are you referring to an outlying area like New Market or Meridianville?

@Michael Plaks suggestion of considering cash out refi was a strong option.

My primary question is: Should I focus on buying a multifamily property and growing slowly to build a stable financial foundation, even though my area would have minimal cash flow and be more of an appreciation play?

I'd focus on entitlement, highest and best use, appraisal, rezoning, strategies that developers and land entitlement firms use like us to drive value to the land. there is strong interest in entitled land 

- Are there certain areas you would stay away from and why (eg, high crime, bad schools, poor quality builds, etc)?

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