Winter rentals are becoming difficult because there has been a ton of condo developments built recently and there's a lot of inventory for Winter rentals.Property 1 - Fully renovated 3 bedroom/2 bath single family.

Appreciation potential is solid with all the development happening, and it’s really landlord-friendly, which makes managing rentals much easier.

In the Austin MSA the developers OVER BUILT apartment complexes.  

I moved here from Portland in 2020 to invest and now own 10+ rentals, and the growth here has been crazy—population is climbing fast, job growth is strong, and massive companies like Intel, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Honda, Microsoft, LG, and Anduril are developing here, which keeps rental demand super high.

If you set some goals on getting cash reserves and develop relationships you could get there into real estate in the future but now isn't the time.

I agree that it seems like your strength of current knowledge resides in the development side so yeah, find a local developer to intern with to learn the ins and out of the business. 

If I understand options 1 and 2 correctly, waste area is land not suited for farming or development, but keep it for hunting.. ie streams, wetlands, etc. and for home property, search for properties with homes on I can rent, but subdivide off the large acreage for my own use?

The goal however is to avoid the liability event from occurring in the first place because the real estate performs best when managed competently, insurance premiums remain lower and more time can be spent towards business development rather than putting out constant fires.

In your experience, how would a developer/investor like @Michelle Velasquez figure that out?

Because of that, there is a lot of economic development which drives jobs, housing demand, rent growth, and appreciation.