can you start with a house hack where you live? 

…essentially the bones of the house and have that partfinanced.

Looking at purchasing some vacant land in NC that has an existing lease on it to a 3rd party.  

I follow BP to remind myself of where I came from with Duplexes and Houses in S.

Two of the three houses she wants to sell have tenants so she is kind of forced to sell to an investor/wholesaler unless she wants to wait til next year when the leases are up.

I agree with @Caleb Brown and @Lynn McGeeinWhen I bought my first house in 2018 I had the same problems.

Starting from the basic, a house has laundry and a refrigerator and a place to eat, to be with your family.

@Elan Adler - I think the reason you are not getting much in the way of responses is that you will not find a house for $250k here that rents for 2k. 

You can do all this without a lawyer, but mind you, expect your house to be trashed. 

If that number is greater than the purchase price of the house, then I would consider buying the property after looking at other factors (location, condition, neighborhood, zoning, etc).In other words, 6 straight months of rent should pay for the house.