We had to do environmental assessment before the credit union approves our mortgage application.

Are there radon or other environmental issues in that area?

I would evaluate if there is any possibility of any environmental issues. 

You may be dealing with surveys, environmental assessments, legal access, physical access, deed restrictions, zoning, floodplains, utilities, permits, and that's before you even build anything.

In my case, my employment is outside the real estate world...although, an interesting fact is most of the value of the company I work for, a 95 year old environmentally friendly chemical company, is in the real estate they have acquired over the years to house the business.On to my goals...2017 was a foundation forming year for me as a RE investor - I listened to 100's of hours of podcasts (mostly BP featuring many that are posting on this thread), read 1000's of pages (books, blogs, posts), analyzed many properties, and talked to several RE professionals.In 2018, I will 1) connect and form relationships with professionals that are in the business of finding deals - finding deals (and finding the time to do so) has been challenging. 2) deploy my knowledge and capital to build passive-ish income through buy-and-hold RE investments so that by 2022 my investment income will surpass my W-2 income. 3) give back to the BP community by openly sharing my knowledge, experience (albeit relatively shallow at this point), successes, and failures with others.

Hey Ken-I work for a civil engineering firm in North Jersey and deal directly with a few select geotechnical, structural and environmental engineers in the area.Send me a message, would love to hear more.

You can find a list of inspectors here: http://www.lucascountyhealth.com/environmental-hea....

Then to release him from any past or future environmental issues really concerned me. 

And the environmental liability follows the new owner.

You can look up active licensed civil/structural engineers by going to the TX board of Professional Engineers website. https://engineers.texas.gov/roster/pesearch.htmlNow, keep in mind that not all civil PE are the same... sub-disciplines of civil engineering includes engineers who specialize in material science, coastal, earthquake, environmental, water resources, geotechnical, structural, transportation, etc...