Do you have a city/market in mind for these investments? 

Should you run into an issue with said tenant and need to evict or should city know you placed them in there, you expose yourself to potential fines. 

If you sue, and have to "prove" that the neighbor was negligent, then that would likely need to consist of multiple “written” communications from you, the city, or an arborist to your neighbor stating that you/they feel the tree in question is diseased, appears to be dead/dying, is overgrown and posing a potential threat to your property, etc.

Although instead of knowing about roofs and rehab.. land folks need to know about:Zoningwhere is the power  is there internethow deep are the wells or is its an area that water is super toughDoes it perc. and or how expensive are septic systems.Wetlands Etc.Now if you target land with all city services then its just dead simple.. figure out the retail value and buy below it and do your flip..

Those are going to be my biggest questions when looking for something like this on or off the market.

I would imagine it ended with him making no money as this sounds like the biggest steaming pile of poop I have ever heard of.

As mentioned your biggest challenge is going to be selling the package at/close to same time. 

Not following the requirements (within Seattle city limits will likely have additional rules and regulations) opens the seller up to liability.Additionally, the seller always has the option of offering "cash for keys" arrangement but be sure that no funds change hands until after the property is vacated and locks are changed.John

From talking to locals, there's a couple of issues than need to be addressed, some are the non-ecological practices that some of those developers have, unfortunately, our government profits from this investors and allows them to destroy manglers (which are the natural water purifying system of that area) dismantling hectares of mangroves and degraded the habitat of resident and migratory species burying animals alive.There's proof of fecal material floating beneath the city of Tulum, only 20% of the water is sent to the water treatment plant, there's no infrastructure for the exponential growth.The landfills in the middle of the jungle that is leaking hazardous pollutants into the freshwater system and that something that developers won't tell you.I love my country and it would be a disaster for everybody if this place ends up like some other great beaches around the world, that are completely ruined by greedy investors not following the rules.There's no urban or comprehensive master plan, and one of the risks is that Tulum will be like Playa del Carmen is today, overgrown and with environmental devastation.I will advise doing a lot of research before getting something in Tulum, different country, different rules, and practices.

Your construction background and being local to Columbus are huge advantages—they’ll definitely give you an edge in finding properties and keeping rehab costs down compared to others.I’d suggest exploring parts of the city you’re less familiar with.