The sellers market that made deals so hard to come by and corresponding rises in value and rents pushed me into the preservation phase early. 

Is there a cap on preservation improvements for a tax certificate purchased from the State of Alabama if the owner redeems? 

I do know of a few lots in the paseo area but they are historic preservation areas so it will cost more to build to the spec required.  

I divide it into acquire mode or preserve mode.

Focus – Diversification is a preservation strategy – wealth is built through focus.

I believe that leverage is important early on to grow your portfolio at an accelerated pace, but becomes less important and can even be detrimental later on when you've already built out your portfolio and start to value capital preservation over capital growth.

Most Real Estate Investors like to preserve their option to 1031 in the future - time and time again.

I spoke with a property preservation contractor the other day.

In that case you would be able to preserve your capital and do more deals in the future. 

With a competent servicer and an a team of third party vendors for due diligence and property preservation you can basically buy notes in any location and manage them with a computer and a phone.