I did bid on a couple of residential vacant land in Urban area.I use Land use code and lien face value range to filter all properties I like.After putting together a list, I start doing research one by one by using county office website, google maps, Zillow and EPA website.I bid at 5-8% for first three batches but got nothing because winners for properties I bid on are at 2%-4%, some even 1%.I adjusted my bidding rate for later batches.I won 8 bids in total. 7 of them are properties with house on it at low rate. 1 of them is residential vacant land at higher rate.I made payment for all my winning bids on the day of results.waiting for tax lien certificate.....Hope this is helpful to other newbies.

You mean a house on an urban lot that's been eaten by a sinkhole?

So actually people do buy 500k lots for 200k homes in high cost urban areas.

I have been keeping track of the comps and whenever there is an open house in our condo "society" I check it out to see what others have done.Please keep the suggestions coming.

You might find you enjoy design/planning and go on to do a Master of Urban Planning.

., for example, recent conversions slated are to remove 158,000 square feet of office inventory from the Plaza/Midtown, an area that's become a popular urban address for younger people who are looking for apartments, says Dennis Bradley, principal at B&A Architecture in Kansas City, Mo.The conversion to apartments is occurring after the owner tried for two years to find a single-use office tenant to occupy a 60-year-old office building that is now being converted into 101 apartment units, including eight two-story penthouses.Meanwhile, the losses of office inventory are expected to stir more ground-up office construction and leasing activity in other office buildings, the CoStar Group reports.Source: "Office Today, Apts.

Michael Janszen Doesn't the above quote sound like all the bulls today saying "we're becoming a renter society", "foreign money is limitless", "no new housing supply is coming online", "construction financing is still tight", etc.?

You are not going to find a safer semi-urban, mature area than Old North East, Coffee Pot Bayou area.  

They have this small town power trip thing going on that you simply don't see in larger urban areas. 

I am just pointing out that many people chase the one dimensional version of success that this society imposes on us and it all seems about money.