Responding to all Leads

[Timothy C.]

I'm a couple months into my marketing campaign, and have received a couple written responses.  In a way I really like these because it shows an extra degree of motivation on the seller side since they took the extra time needed to do so.  It also allows for slightly less urgency to respond as they are certainly expecting to wait an unknown amount of time for a response (within reason).

However, the responses I just received are three cases that I'm not overly interested in pursuing.  One is in a flood zone.  It has a somewhat deep back yard, leading to a single levee.  I live near the community, and I know that this levee was breached a couple years ago.  The other is a very large plot of land (maybe 3,000 sq. ft?) in a mixed residential/industrial area.  On one side is a slightly busy street, and the other side is a storage facility.  The third is a single family home with the main entrance on the second level of the home - there is a large flight of stairs leading to it.

As I'm trying to get my R.E. investing business off the ground, my first reaction is that I should follow the entire process through on all of these, if for no other reason than to get the experience. I think of several BP podcast guests who discovered their outstanding niche by (thoughtfully) getting into something that is outside their comfort zone.  Additionally, I think of how much I'm spending for leads, so I need to pursue all that I get until I know there is no deal there.

So, why am I hesitant to pursue these?  The only thing holding me back is that in each case I feel that I'm pursuing a property that I may not be able to get rid of, or in the case of the vacant lot a situation where I have very limited knowledge (none, beyond a BP podcast) of how to do due diligence or the exit strategies available to me.

Am I over thinking this and being too gun shy?  Or, is there enough legitimate cause for concern that I'm avoiding a nightmare?  The right response is probably that I will not know until I jump in and do the work to find out what I've got.  What do you think?