As a salesperson I know first and foremost to tackle family and friends.

Or you could possibly even just use a good handyman that could tackle a lot of the project and maybe even save you some money over hiring a lot of different subs. 

wow seems like your situation is a bit similar to mine haha- I grew up here in San Diego and actually just got my RE license since I have family that are looking to buy and sell their properties, in addition to my goal of accumulating more rental properties in the future (I own a condo in San Marcos and rent the extra rooms out to college kids at the moment).On top of that my fiancée is in her residency in Detroit, MI so I'll be relocating there in the summer and am looking for the best way to facilitate my investment goals in CA while also tapping into the market in Metro Detroit as it seems easier and more forgiving than a beginner wanting to tackle the southern CA markets!

Overall payback will be just over 3 years but we’ve attracted a much higher caliber tenant and created a better living experience for the whole building.So excited to tackle the next 2 units! 

Rather than risk time and money tackling a difficult problem alone, successful real estate investors know it is worth the additional costs (in terms of money and ego) to embrace other people’s expertise.10.

I'd also check on how that gas station is doing at a larger level, is it something like a buccees or a sheets with a cult following or is this a random mobile station that sells bait and tackle and serves as the general store for the entire town...both are great options but just require different underwriting in my mind.

You have to put those thoughts behind you and take action on getting educated in whatever aspect you want to tackle.

I have had some success in sending letters and directly calling but wondered if there was better methods to tackle the beast.

Any advice on how to organize myself to tackle this?

Daria:You should absolutely not tackle any demo or renovation personally unless you are comfortable with performing the work, the point I was trying to make was as far as asbestos abatements go, removing portland cement siding is hard over of the less risky end of things.My intent was to share my experience so that the next time you encounter portland cement siding (w/ asbestos), you will know that it can be encapsulated safely or removed relatively easily and inexpensively.