The Sold properties will show you what these deals are actually trading for.In addition to this, since you're interested in multi-family properties, you'll also want to look up recently Rented apartments on these sites.

I am a newbie who is beginning his RE journey and learning the ropes and tricks of the trade at the same time. 

Brought up by a father who owned his own construction business my entire life, I know the trade well.

I wanted to know if anyone knew of any tools that could be used to help forecast income/revenue.

I used to work for a utility in operations, power generation, energy trading and in Strategic planning, and know just enough about the electrical grid to be dangerous.Renewables are a significantly larger impact than when I was working in the business. 

@Jay Hinrichs Lots of publicly traded builders put homes right on landfills.

However, with the negative cash flow, the first large cap ex or the first bad tenant will have you question the decision.As for that market, I have been forecasting west Chula Vista to outperform the broader San Diego market since the bay front redevelopment was funded.  

This is not that hard to forecast and will impact you much more than your tax preparer! 

Can you hire friends in the trade?

Since you are trading out of vacant land, you are looking to dump an asset that didn't require much management.