Welcome Chris, make sure you come to the Mid Atlantic Summit in Philly this Spring, an awesome weekend long real estate summit with hundreds of attendees and awesome speakers covering all aspects of RE investing.

...and how you define the details is by "Reverse Engineering".

Webster defines investing as "expending money with the expectation of achieving a profit".

I also have a 9 year background in construction in various aspects; estimating, project management, project controls, etc.I am here to learn, grow, and help.

With how many different aspects are involved in real estate investing I always recommend people getting into it seriously to establish a "real estate investment dream team," a group of professionals they have access to for any time they have problems. 

be organized.Example:3 months goalEnroll in real estate class-network and meet at least 3 real estate related professionalsSave XXX dollars toward first purchaseWork on marketing strategy, and overall strategy (define markets, focus will be SFR, buy and hold with 150.00 cash flow etc) 6 month goal--pass real estate exam--Save xxx--Improve credit score from 675 to 745make these goals quantifiable and specific, in other words you can cross them off when you get them done.The plan won't be perfect buy it's a plan and you show you are executing on it. 

We have researched the permit situation in our city and there is not a defined process for this yet. 

There are random audits, that review all aspects of a property management company; so I never understand how this can happen. 

That would give you an abandonment case which should give you control of the property if it is defined in your lease. 

So really the answer to your question is first to define a set of criteria.