Friends who watched in horror as streets and hotels were turned into lawless assembling places for the drug addicted and untreated, mentally ill.

Figure out the areas, get something under contract, and assemble the team then.

Once you find that, you'll be able to blaze a path in the right direction and BP can help you with that.Example:If you want to flip houses, but can't swing a hammer, you better be able to assemble a great team.If you have time, but no discernible skills, being a bird dog for investors could yield you a few thousand dollars while you learn your team building skills.If you have money, and want to deploy it for a return, you can be a private lender with gap funding or even flip funding.The point is there are several ways to make a great living in this industry and the people that do it best tailor it to their particular skill set.One more example.  

They are usually built by the same factories, even on the same assembly lines and generally close to the same way.

I will assemble and lodge a claim with Old Republic Title next week.

The advantage for them is that they don't have to assemble a team, find good properties and then manage a rehab project all from a distance and do this while they are busy with work, family and other interests.

Construction jobs can be temporary, versus building a $50M assembly factory, assumes a long-term investment.

I am new to real estate but my wife and I do have some experience with GIS mapping programs and with the help of a couple of friends I have assembled a list of over 65,000 flooded homes in Houston.

Where this is an over/under duplex the ceiling / floor assembly between the two units will need to be fire rated - here that translates into voids filled with fire-rated insulation such as Roxul Safe-n-Sound, resilient channel across the joists and 5/8" fire rated drywall (or the 1/2" dense core fire rated which is super expensive).  

Whatever it is, you'll need to have some idea of your investment strategy in order to effectively talk with agents and lenders on your team (step 2).2) Assemble your team (agent, lender, property managers, etc.)Now that you have an idea of your buying criteria, you need to assemble your team.