Thanks for your thoughts/comments as I navigate whether or not this is a good territory for me to jump into.

Yet, one cannot entirely blame them.People become territorial and some will “push, or try to push” just to see what you are made of.The thing is to remain professional and try not to engage, else you will loose more than your patience.Good luck.

The key to developing such areas is to have a strong community presence and a connection with owner-occupied buildings.

Are you seeking someone to simply replace you as a physical presence at the auction?  

I have a local presence for showings and screenings (my wife's aunt and cousin who are licensed realtors and run both a real estate business and property management business) but do all the day-to-day management and scheduling of contractors remotely between my wife and I.

For this reason I think of Northern Virginia and Atlanta make the most sense given the presence Amazon already has there for these two businesses.

Wilmington also has a big college student presence with UNC-W being located there and the constantly growing community colleges.Not certain about the real estate market although a childhood friend of mine is a successful RE broker there. 

At this time, Conrad Hilton began the internationalization of hotel brands, and in doing so had to muzzle the grand hotel model to conform to growth in other territories.

*As far as the naysayers, well I call them haters and that is something that just comes with the territory Happy Investing

It would give me a space to store equipment, a roof to work under while it's raining or snowing, and a presence in the middle of our industrial sector which is doing well.I wonder if someone could give me some guidance on what to expect and pitfalls to attempt to avoid in this venture.