Use your eyes and nose to see if they're being untruthful.  

They're long gone and I'm still finding "easter eggs" of poorly done crap that makes my job harder, or things done wrong enough that I had to redo them, like he used stair nosing instead of stool molding for the window sills.

That will further degrade home values for those in close proximity.Scituate values have been on a long steady increase (except for the crash starting in 2006 and running to 2009) since the time we bought the home in 1985, so I can't point to a direct correlation between commuter rail service and home values rising - though that seems to be the conventional wisdom.Service started in 2007 and the real estate crash was well underway, so any additional value gained by the new commuter rail service would in my opinion be dwarfed by the nose-diving home prices.I do think in general that it's a net positive for those wanting to work in Boston - or at least parts of Boston that are within walking distance of Government Center / Financial district / South Station, etc. 

None of these specialties really relates to RE investing per se.What you do have are people skills and perhaps a nose for scammers, cheats, fraudulent low life types, that are in RE.

put my nose to the grindstone read, learn and save.  

That stuff is no skin off of my nose, so however it got fixed was fine.We ran into the problems when we were on the exterior, and she dropped her head at one point and said that she had forgotten to check if the gutters were being maintained.  

South Norfolk is one of those neighborhoods that people who live on the outside stick their noses up at.

Technical glitches are unfortunate but don't cut your nose off to spite your face.My pro account has made me a lot of money.

There are exceptions, namely HVAC, which I pay through the nose for and get my money's worth from a local plumber who is also an investor, roofing, and major electrical.

If you look at most people who succeed they have all gotten a lot of bloody noses.