I look at the square foot of the house and figure out how much the land lords are getting per square foot.

You can also add two feet of plastic around the home with landscaping rock over it, again to keep the water moving away.

We went with Juniper Square as we thought it had the best features for what we need now and what we will need as we grow.

I know it's not necessary to invest in properties that are driving distance; however, my question is assuming positive cash flow is it worth competing for properties with such a high cost per square foot?

You're going to pay close to $1,000 per square foot and it's 25% down on an investment property. 

What I mean by this is while some vents can cover 50 square feet of interior space, others cover 200 square feet of area.

Make sure that you're not in violation of any building codes, I'm reasonably certain for example that GFCI's are required within X feet of an interior water tap almost everywhere in the country.

Joining to get educated before getting my feet wet.  

The square root of 16 is 4, and the square root of 4 is 2.  2 is the only even prime number. 

The high price/square foot sales prices are making finding a suitable place difficult, but not impossible.