Hello, my dad and I are new to RE investing and looking for medium-rehab homes in our area, specifically Killeen/Fort Hood, TX. 

As I've been hunting for the right duplex-fourplex, I've gotten as far as applying for a deal I'd found, only to find out my credit wasn't sufficient.My goal: purchase a small multi-family unit needing a light-medium amount of rehab, but I don't want to come out of pocket very much.First Question:  What options do I have?

Accordingly, the use of land and buildings within these areas is limited in general to dwellings at a density of around ten dwelling units per acre, and to such nonresidential uses as generally support and harmonize with a medium-high residential density.

I'm having a very difficult time finding a useful book that discusses finding & evaluating medium-sized multifamily properties. 

In case 1, i might be willing to give a value of 10k towards the vacant lots seeing it could be a great market and not a ton to fill a lot with the proper mediums in place.  

A very good combination for the future.While it is hard to quantify the number of jobs generated by small to medium businesses, it is easy to quantify for large projects.Major ProjectsBelow are some of the top projects under construction in Las Vegas.

As for the rest of your 1099 income that you seek to use for real estate, I would suggest one of two things: 1) Put it in an index fund OR2) Put it in a savings account a bond index fundThe reason why I believe these are your two best options is that it sounds like you want to access this money in the short to medium term (within the next 5 years). 

@Collin Baumann I would suggest she just find a medium or smaller size PM company to work for.

I would be looking at small to medium sized multi family, which seem to behave very similarly to the duplexes that I like to buy. 

Then if we do have a bad downturn, I  will be doing the foreclosing instead of getting foreclosed on, and picking up properties at pennies on the dollar. 2)  for equity investments,  avoid short and medium-term debt.