I moved to Mobile about a year and a half ago from New Orleans to follow work (I work at Austal as an engineer) and just recently got bit by the real estate investment bug.

An additional benefit of a detailed engineering-based Cost Segregation Study is that it can increase potential insurance premium savings as well as provide support for the property tax appeals process.

I'll give you the short answer.If you invest $175,000 to purchase a $750,000 house and you'll earn appreciation on the full $750,000 and not just the $175,000 you put in.Do a search for "real estate vs stock market calculator" on your favorite search engine and you'll find examples like this: https://businesscaseguy.com/should-i-invest-in-real-estate-o...

I'm a 33-year-old software engineer residing in the New York long island area.

While you will need an engineering company to complete the Studies, you will need a tax preparer to file Form 3115 to do the catch up, as suggested above.

I reverse engineered some of the Broadband Broker algorithms and could back-test against their whole sample set since I had all the HUD held-for-sale data on my PC.

Have very good partners and find the best Architects and Engineers.

You want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer etc then go to college.

Will have to develop a new layout and have the engineer re-calculate the storm pond size and demand. 

What you may save in material you will make up for in engineering and architecture fees.