Thirdly, I would recommend reading David Greene's book on long distance investing before you invest long-distance!

Thirdly, I would recommend reading David Greene's book on long distance investing before you invest long-distance!

If you get green lights from zoning, then you can approach the development department to see what their requirements will be. 

Have you read "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene?

Seems to be a large number of properties on the market in this area. Is it deteriorating? Investor selling off their portfolio? Primarily several duplexes all in the same neighborhood and at what looks to be very reas...

@Anthony Chara's tip was to ask the hotel where you are staying to circle the good neighborhoods in green and then the bad ones in red. 

I've gotten the green light from one hard money lender to finance the rest- and I am waiting to hear from a local bank and some investor friends that would offer better rates.

We decided to narrow our focus as follows:• Single family• 3 bedrooms• 2 car garage• 1,200 to 1,500 SqFtWe also restricted the geographical area to the region marked in green below. 

If the lights stay green, you'll need to engage at a minimum, civil and structural engineers.  

We went to look at it toward the middle of March 2015 and there were holes in walls, missing fixtures, odd electrical (the wiring for the back porch light and exterior outlet have been pulled into the master bedroom), tiles missing in the master shower (green plastic was duck taped across 2/3 of the surround so they could use it anyway), and cabinets missing that were not that way in November when it was listed with our Realtor.