Stay informed about any new construction or development projects.Investing in student rentals can be a lucrative niche if approached with careful planning and research.

Ultimately I think it is very area dependent but I personally prefer to use the funds that you would use towards arbitrage in buying a property that you own so that you can start building long term wealth.

I rather prefer Rockville and Silver Spring.

I'd suggest getting connected with local property managers who have experience with that niche. 

I prefer buying during this time of year as the prices are usually lower and the competition is taking a nap because they generally do not want to move in the winter. :)Also, keep in mind that rent rates are also generally lower in the "winter" months so you may not get peak rent from your current home. 

If you used a good investor-friendly realtor to buy your property, they should be able to give you their preferred list of vendors for any issues that may arise.

I much prefer Silver Spring, Rockville and even DC over them.

Preferably Canadian and some commercial experience.

I prefer to travel with my points and stay anywhere I want for free. 

There are several niches that we will explore and focus in order to be successful, but we have found that we typically see returns of 2-5 times of our original investment.The challenge with entitlement is there's definitely quite a bit more risk involved as well as a very complicated process (hence the higher return).