I went high on the expenses, which came to roughly over $20K. assuming 1 unit to be vacant per year (83.3% occupancy).

Now, over a year and a half later, he sent a certified letter last week demanding the security deposit or legal action within 30 days.Please advise. 

Red flags for me include people who are overly optimistic without considering risks or those who don’t seem to have a clear plan for their contributions to the partnership.

And I still finance land flippers all over the US.. so perk test and soil test we deal with every week on our funding's.

There are many good fire marshalls but also many over zealous ones. 

You can also usually count on rents increasing enough in around 5 years, so that you do cashflow.Of course you have to watch out for over-leveraging and going bust!

Although 2024 was generally considered a seller's market, based on what's going on in the new and the real estate market --- Do you think 2025 will be a buyer's market or continue to be a seller's market?

Instead I will tell you that it can be done and you just need to have a quick call to go over the basics and be able to answer several questions.If you wanted to buy an investment property that would be even easier and there are a few programs you could use for this as well.

@David Putz  Great list and have used several on the list over the years. 

How do you identify emerging markets before they become over saturated?