I'm absolutely terrified of Newburgh - I went to visit, and I didn't step one foot out of my car. 

A buddy was telling me that he heard of a method of getting financing via buying an established company and leveraging the company's equity to obtain financing.Is this real/legit or should I tell him to beware?

But with our above mentioned goals, buying 10 acres out in the country isn't exactly step one of building a buy and hold empire. 

I am new to bigger pockets and wanted to connect to see advice on next steps for RE investing.

Your first step is to learn your state landlord tenant regulations.

I am fully not equipped to move forward just yet, but what is the usual next step after finding a motivated seller in terms of conversation with them?

Virginia landlord tenant law is fairly specific about proper steps to take, so follow it. 

Investing is not a way to get out of debt it is a method used to make your money earn it's keep.

See how nice and helpful people can be when the situation is correctly stated :) @John Andruszka   SO Ya your next step is post pay or quit then file for non-payment, eviction, she's not gonna pay you a dime. is my bet and I bet I'd win that bet..You have no guarantee she'll pay rent, you've given her 2+ extra weeks to move..

basically the steps would be1. drive to find a potentially qualified house.2. find out who lives there and what their mailing address is.3. put them into your mailing campaign to start sending them lettersim mainly looking to outsource #2 and #3 and curious as to how you guys do it.