As I always say, start by defining what your investment goals are.

Depending on where the land is (county & state), the reason I say you must get rezoning approval, at least in my area, is to change the use of the land from its defined use on the Master Land Use Plan.Suppose you have 11 acres and the house, and you separate the house with one acre from the balance of the tract leaving a 10 acre parcel of vacant land.

I try to define the neighborhood boundaries, then look at number of beds/baths, then condition/amenities.

Lou,I have never done a deal quite like this before, but one thing that comes to mind is that you should define how and in what order things get paid.  

This is a good place to start as they have the more experienced staff there and you don't have to have such a defined idea of what you want.They will look up these tools amongst other things (these tools are awesome btw):http://zimas.lacity.org/http://navigatela.lacity.org/navigatela/There you'll get a load of information from zoning to issues related to the property to details of the property to services in the area, whether it's a landslide zone, hydrants, sewer, RSO, Ellis Act and much more.

Define broker.

If I can keep the property from being forclosed upon, then I would definately be ready to list it with a realator.

The podcasts are a great way to learn (the most recent one is with a guy from Maryland, so something that would definitely interest you).Learn, define your strategy, goals, and of course, take action!

I specifically focus on retail these days but in the past did larger apartment buildings but they are cap rate compressed now for the most part.To find a broker or agent you need to define what it is you are trying to do.My clients minimum purchase 1 million or higher in price.

A Protected Tenant is a tenant who has continuously resided in a rental unit for at least ten years, and is either: (i) 62 years of age or older OR (ii) disabled as defined in Title 42 United States Code Section 423 or handicapped as defined in Section 50072 of the California Health and Safety Code.