Kevin Yi I used to think that commercial was a dying sector because of the e commerce but it depends.

I use a process called Building Information Modeling (BIM), which is widely used in the commercial sector but rare in residential.

I went there though to make sure I could earn a great paycheck to fund my investments, not because I wanted to work forever for the corporate sector or for the man.

The college rentals have been pretty flat for the most part, but the cost of entry keeps rising in that sector, so the better returns will most likely be in the frenship or cooper school districts

What economic sectors employ the most people?  

So with access to industry knowledge in Oil and gas and a growing competence in real estate investing you'll be uniquely positioned to move in and out of the energy and real estate sectors at opportune moments and do it tax deferred through 1031 exchanges. 

However in the residential sector some people think it’s reasonable to give a contractor 30k upfront on a 60k contract.

For instance, in Lansing, MI, the Sparrow Hospital just finished building a multimillion dollar Cancer Center (and, if not a hospital improvement then perhaps a new University building).So, think about similar buildings being planned by major players in the City's and County's stronger economic sectors, and ask yourself "if I'd been aware of it ahead of time, might I have been able to score a few cheap houses or strip malls and been able to flip them to the new, highly-paid employees of the Center or to businesses trying to sell to those consumers?"

This creates the domino effect where the pressure from the guys above you coming into your market/sector/deal size cause you to reach down smaller/further out, rinse and repeat all the way down to single family flipper and investors.

The Story I moved to Calgary four years ago for a job in the Energy sector after finishing my university degree.