Leave the land as it is, with tall brush, and sheds (in relatively average condition).

If the guy said I don't want to list till I find a place or similar I would brush it off and maybe trust him that he wants to move in, clean his old house up, then sell. 

Need to clear brush and plant about 10,000 trees. 

Concrete, Wire brush, not a terribly difficult job.

Your high cash flow areas just mean more risk, when talking broad brush commentary.  

I think I spent around $3k in 1999 clearing and rough grading (but not excavating) when I built my house and there wasn't any real timber to cut down, just a decent amount of brush and stump hauling, and certainly nothing to grind.

I sold fuller brush door to door at your age.. and that was fun.keep at it.. pretty awesome really your on this site like I said.. you will be fine.

I would definitely brush up on the laws in St Louis because this is from a few years back.

On the contract under the legal description it mentions lots D & E, but no mention of B.According to the zoning ordinances I was reading it states under the chapter concerning nonconforming lots, structures and uses that…“Two or more contiguous parcels of property owned by the same person shall be considered as being one parcel if one or more are nonconforming in size and the resulting parcel does not contain two principal buildings.”This leads me to believe that the property owner can NOT sell ONLY lots D & E, basically because this would then “create” a new nonconforming lot.I called our realtor and pointed this out and she more or less brushed it off saying it is probably only referring to a single lot for tax purposes.

Usually after going to 2-3 networking events and meetups, you'll already have brushed shoulders with private investors/lenders that are on the hunt for a deal.