He spent 20 years building it.

I have friends in each spot and think they could help me build a great team.

You have to be ready to make 3-6 months of payments on the mortgage yourself after they stop while you try to foreclose/evict them.

Someone in the build chain knows the guy who writes the checks.

I am building them especially for STRs, but they will have a cash flow as regular rentals.

You're better off focusing on specific markets, specific neighborhoods, analyzing numbers, and building an ideal buy [box].

I began shopping for a large construction loan to build a new car wash on the land. 

And the changes, such as regulation, city development, traffic flow, building views etc happen very quickly. 

Personally, If I could pull out a HELOC, I would use it to fix and flip which will typically make sense as you shouldnt be keeping the money out for that long and you can recycle it or pay it back and build off the capital that you got from. the flip.

I'd build a network of agents and owners in your select markets that work primarily with investment properties.