We have great credit scores and high income.

We're under contract right now for $480 with 2k credit back from seller to cover closing costs.

I am a hands on landlord (not a slum lord) so I want to do something simple, but effective, to let my tenants know I care about their well-being (major value of mine!)

Gary can be a good rental city, but you better have a very strong property manager or you could have major issues with rents not being paid and people tearing up your properties.  

So can go into a neighborhood's GIS system and look up what the individual parcels are assessed at and omit the building (also referred to as improvements), typically the real value of nearby parcels is somewhere between 50% and 75% of what the county claims; example: if the Fredericksburg GIS system claims that a certain house's land is assessed at 50K then your investor should NOT buy it at more than 37,500 at the VERY most.One MAJOR point to take into consideration is: an investor that you will help buying a parcel of land is an investor that will have less money to make future purchases.Good luck, and fee free to shoot me any questions as I'm very familiar with the Fredericksburg area and won't hesitate landing a helping hand to fellow BP.

I have no debt (car paid off, no credit card debt, no student loan debt) and pay no mortgage on my current home, so the $3k is unburdened cash. 

Yes, even if the OF deal isn't on your credit, it would reflect on your bank statements and your tax returns.Biggest tip - get the property appraised so you don't overpay.  

I could go on with excuses about working full-time and going to school full time, but the bottom line is I didn't make the cut so I switched majors.

So going with your plan you have two years to get credit.

Before having any tenants sign a new lease with you, make sure to complete your standard tenant screening and run background checks, credit reports, etc. on the tenants.