Trust me" is a classic one.One of my personal favorites is someone who self-proclaims to be a "expert."

It seems that most of the buildings in the decent Chicago neighborhoods are either heavy construction/repurpose plays or appreciation plays.

From the light research I have done it would only make sense if the area is good and the land might some day be repurposed as another commercial unit and the location makes enough money that it can cover all expenses including an employee or two to clean and do maintenance etc and cash flow. 

It's classic rich dad / poor dad.

They are old good quality good (i'm preserving them for re-purposing them at some point, time-consuming to refinish them now).

To get a jump start on my investments would it be smart to save even more for a longer amount of time, for a larger/nicer house (the classic American Dream house) to take advantage of the small down payment?

@Mike Dymski Is the project new construction or re-purposing an existing structure?

I pretty much violate every rule there is from the 2% rule to the 50/50 rule to the 70% rule on this one.I found labor for the first rehab on craigslist and this was a classic example of trying so hard to get the lowest cost labor that I spent twice as much money in the long run. 

I've had the classic "Let me pick your brain" lunch with a couple of investors who own property.

I have a blog post (third one down on my profile) on some older classics books about landlording (classics of lanldord lit).