I simply just don't trust the news these days and have to look at my own markets and stats.I think the part everyone is conscious of is we saw a post-covid peak that in theory will not return, and we made a gradual return to 2019 levels.What I do think is true, per AirDNA, is that ocean and mountain markets saw the biggest increase, and now the biggest fall.... and now what's happening is many people, particularly older families who tried Airbnb for the first time, are realizing they never want to stay in a hotel again. 

Quote from @Jeremy Greenamyre: If the goal is to incentivize housing construction, the federal, state, and local governments could also address the disincentives - environmental restrictions, "green" requirements, restrictive zoning, studies, etc.

Begin your 'pre qualification' process for the acquisition now (most commercial lenders won't issue a PreQual but rather a LOI) In general, Commercial transactions can take longer due to extended due diligence, appraisal, environmental reports and financing (60+ days) so you'll want to initiate your search during the marketing of the down leg as it can cause a tighter timeline than a residential transaction. 

In the world of development you have money at risk to complete these and other reports, legal, zoning, permitting, environmentals, etc before you go hard on your deposit with a seller.

Hello, My name is Homer Wanamaker with Bay Hill Environmental.

There are still corner cases that won't be covered, such as environmental.

You need to have enough money, probably in the $100-150k, amount to put the property under contract, and do the feasibility study on the property, Phase 1 Environmental, Property Drawings for roads, water sewer, and utilities, and have a completed budget so you know what your costs are.At that point you can go out and attract investors, I don't thing that developing raw land is necessarily cheaper than buying discounted finished lots. 

If I follow your second statement, are you saying that instead of continuously pulling equity out of the existing portfolio to fund expansion that you would grow to 6-7 houses and then consciously shrink the portfolio down to 5 with much higher equity levels (potential upscaling the quality of the houses in the process)?

The other 75% of the skills required to be a good developer will have to be learned elsewhere (a good mentor is the best way).These include everything from Zoning/Subdivision/Land Issues to Environmental Issues to Permitting Nuances to Design Issues, plus all the differences in financial analysis.

He will tell you, INTER ALIA, that you want inspection, financing, attorney review, title review, insurance, environmental, and survey review.Second, get a GOOD home inspector lined up.Third, get your banker lined up.THEN you can start looking.Also, keep in mind that backing out of a contract must relate to the contingency being used, and can only be triggered AFTER a good faith effort comply with/fulfill the contingency.