Our end goal and “why” is to be able to move our family to some acreage and raise our kids on a little hobby farm.

Despite having a backyard, they sometimes let their 2 small dogs out the front door and do their business on my lawn which was green before they moved in. 

That is like driving drunk in a car and then moving over to the passenger seat and leaving the drivers seat empty hoping nothing happens. 

Hi, is there a minimum  amount of time we need to be residing in our home before we can rent it out and buy another one we can move into to qualify for the 5% down payment? 

If you get good folks in that space, then you can move forward with the rest.

Our current residents who are AWESOME (rent always on time, take great care of property) now have a situation where the downstairs roommate is moving out but the upstairs group wants to stay (lease is up July 1). 

If they have to move on, then so be it....

Tenant is moving out (thankfully) and we have an opening for April 1.

@Chang ZhangI just moved to the area, but I am more than happy to help in any way possible.

Two books I recommend for you moving forward are "The House Hacking Strategy" by Craig Curelop and "Real Estate by the Numbers" by J Scott and Dave Meyer.Also - this is posted constantly in the forums and can be debated, but acquiring your real estate license just for one deal might be a massive waste of time.