So stocks are good but the issue is as you liquidate the asset depletes and till its eventually gone.

I am a current restaurant owner who is looking to become eventually full time real estate investor.

I was just wondering if buying properties and rehabbing them would be a good way to transition into becoming a residential developer eventually?

There's a lot of different ways you can approach it as someone who will eventually have a high W2 income. 

Realize at the outset that real estate will involve all different types to service, maintain, repair, improve, insure, manage and eventually sell.  

If you put in the input to search for properties and make offers, you will eventually secure a deal whether that's in 1 week, 1 month or 5 months.

If you contact zillow through a bunch of ways (they also have social media outlets where you can comment, and that's what we did, in addition to all the other methods of contacting them) my understanding is they eventually do get back to you and are reasonable in resolving matters. 

Eventually we would like to fix up the short term rental in the Smokies as well, thinking that we could do this for approx. $5000.

Small, easy to get around, beach bars, and affordable condos are still accessible (though I worry for how long and if it will end up over developed eventually).

I’m a huge fan of the multi-family model of investing and would like to eventually build up to owning apartment complexes.