Study prices in home improvement stores like Home Depot to get a good idea of what everything costs, and log it on a spreadsheet.

Only way around it is a cost segregation study which most investors rarely do for residential RE on a small scale. 

I created this chart after studying for years why some people succeed in real estate investing, and others don't. 

Quote from @Sheila Peschges: You have to study your state laws closely (or consult an attorney) to see if it's allowed.

Things like feasibility studies, site surveys and site selection will play a part in the success of the project.

@Shaun Ng I discovered Jack Yvers in New Hampshire and he’s made more with investing my funds from my Roth IRA in 3 months than I made in about 5 years.

However, I'm also seeing some studies suggest our population growth might drop from about 350k to 250k to the state per year due to a lot of the growth being from boomers and they are continuing to age and the boomer population dwindles every day.

However, I’m also open to discovering other promising real estate opportunities, so any recommendations are welcome!

Our partner, Amonte Miller, discovered the Dolphin Road deal and brought it to our attention.

My $10k example was admittedly unrealistic.However, by way of further background, @Dustin Heiner wrote an excellent article on this topic on his website masterpassiveincome.com titled "What to Do When A Buyer Backs Out From An Assignment Of Contract".In it he suggests a scenario where the assignee decides not to proceed, perhaps after discovering a big ticket repair item that would cost significantly more than the portion of the assignment fee held in escrow.